Emergency services were inundated with calls in the early hours of Sunday morning as a “sonic boom” caused by Typhoon jets woke thousands of people.
The fighter planes were scrambled to an aircraft which had lost communications, causing a sonic boom which – according to startled witnessed in the south east – resembled an “explosion” and left windows rattling in their frames.
The RAF said the fighter planes were deployed from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire shortly before 4.10am.
The aircraft were the cause of an explosion-like sound which was heard across vast swathes of the South East, The loud bang sparked a surge in 999 calls, with Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue receiving a “large number” of calls.
People living in Essex, west
London and Stevenage were among those tweeting to say they had been woken up by the noise.
Hundreds of people posted about the noise online, with the Metropolitan
police confirmed that they were looking into reports in the north London area. Did anyone in the London/Hertfordshire area hear that huge bang? My windows just shook. Was it an
explosion ?— Skanking Sweet🇸🇳🧡 (@NestaWane) December 1, 2019WTF WAS THAT BANG! Just woken up with what sounded like and explosion far away and felt a tremor in North London— Gingerpupgraham (@ChestneyGraham) December 1, 2019However, minutes later it was confirmed that the noise was in fact cause by the jets. An RAF spokeswoman said: “Two Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Coningsby were scrambled at 0409 this morning, as part of the UK’s Quick Reaction Alert procedures, after an aircraft lost communications in
UK airspace.
“The aircraft was intercepted and its communications were subsequently re-established. The Typhoons are returning to their base.” We are aware of reports of a loud bang in the north London area. There are no reports of an explosion and police are looking into the incident. There is no cause for public concern.— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) December 1, 2019