My condolences to all concerned and as Beeayeate has said will be echoed by all military (and non mil) aviators around the world. 2LP's thread re. the history of the Canberra's safety record over the years is not without some merit in that it concentrates the mind and reminds us that all forms of aviation have a very large slice of risk associated with it's very performance. However, that is not a sufficiently strong case IMHO to suggest that the "queen of the skies" should be withdrawn from service. In my days of mil flying we accepted the risks and trained hard to minimise them, and I have no reason to believe that the present generation are any less responsible or capable- in fact I believe that they are probably more professional than most of us from the 60's. That being said when I went to the OCU at Bassingborne the Canberra was considered dated and not too long for the then modernising RAF, despite a safety record (i.e. losses v total number built as a %) better by far than the Gnat, Lightning, F104. That the type still provides a needed service to the 21st Century Air Force is sufficient for it's continuance and it should be down to the experience and professionalism of those who fly operate and deploy the aircraft to call for its end.
RIP