diff --git a/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/httpcache.py b/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/httpcache.py
index bd112c48d..521327bfe 100644
--- a/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/httpcache.py
+++ b/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/httpcache.py
@@ -1,11 +1,21 @@
 from email.utils import formatdate
+from twisted.internet import defer
+from twisted.internet.error import TimeoutError, DNSLookupError, \
+        ConnectionRefusedError, ConnectionDone, ConnectError, \
+        ConnectionLost, TCPTimedOutError
 from scrapy import signals
 from scrapy.exceptions import NotConfigured, IgnoreRequest
 from scrapy.utils.misc import load_object
+from scrapy.xlib.tx import ResponseFailed
 
 
 class HttpCacheMiddleware(object):
 
+    DOWNLOAD_EXCEPTIONS = (defer.TimeoutError, TimeoutError, DNSLookupError,
+                           ConnectionRefusedError, ConnectionDone, ConnectError,
+                           ConnectionLost, TCPTimedOutError, ResponseFailed,
+                           IOError)
+
     def __init__(self, settings, stats):
         if not settings.getbool('HTTPCACHE_ENABLED'):
             raise NotConfigured
@@ -84,6 +94,12 @@ class HttpCacheMiddleware(object):
         self._cache_response(spider, response, request, cachedresponse)
         return response
 
+    def process_exception(self, request, exception, spider):
+        cachedresponse = request.meta.pop('cached_response', None)
+        if cachedresponse is not None and isinstance(exception, self.DOWNLOAD_EXCEPTIONS):
+            self.stats.inc_value('httpcache/errorrecovery', spider=spider)
+            return cachedresponse
+
     def _cache_response(self, spider, response, request, cachedresponse):
         if self.policy.should_cache_response(response, request):
             self.stats.inc_value('httpcache/store', spider=spider)
diff --git a/scrapy/extensions/httpcache.py b/scrapy/extensions/httpcache.py
index 3173656fe..8011581ac 100644
--- a/scrapy/extensions/httpcache.py
+++ b/scrapy/extensions/httpcache.py
@@ -99,6 +99,14 @@ class RFC2616Policy(object):
         return False
 
     def is_cached_response_valid(self, cachedresponse, response, request):
+        # Use the cached response if the new response is a server error,
+        # as long as the old response didn't specify must-revalidate.
+        if response.status >= 500:
+            cc = self._parse_cachecontrol(cachedresponse)
+            if 'must-revalidate' not in cc:
+                return True
+
+        # Use the cached response if the server says it hasn't changed.
         return response.status == 304
 
     def _set_conditional_validators(self, request, cachedresponse):