Sonic boom heard over Cambridge and London after fighter jet ‘breaks sound barrier’

April Roach @aprilroach2812 January 2021

A huge sonic boom was heard in London  and Cambridge when a plane apparently broke the sound barrier.

Residents said their houses were “shaking” after the jet made a “loud bang”.

Jets were scrambled from the RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to incerpt the plane which had lost communications.

The fighter jets escorted the unresponsive aircraft to London’s Standsted Airport.

Cambridge City Council told people not to “panic” as it confirmed the source of the noise on Twitter.

“If you heard a massively loud bang over #Cambridge in the last few minutes, don't panic - apparently it was the sonic boom from a fighter plane breaking the sound barrier!” said the local authority.

A RAF spokesman said: "The RAF can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this afternoon from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian aircraft that had lost communications; subsequently, communications were re-established, the aircraft was intercepted and safely escorted to Stansted

“The Typhoon aircraft were authorised to transit at supersonic speed for operational reasons.”

One social media user said they heard the explosion in Romford, east London.

“Sounds like the whole Romford area felt it, whole house shook and you could feel it in the ground," they wrote on Twitter.

“Sonic boom makes sense, my first thought was that nearby construction collapsed.”

People took to Twitter to share their reaction to the loud noise.

“Managed to capture the Cambridge sonic boom (and my deer in the headlights reaction) live on video,” said one social media user.

Another said the sonic boom had “rumbled the whole warehouse”.

Sam Harrison captured the sonic boom on their Ring doorbell camera in Hornchurch, east London.

“At first I thought it was either an explosion or an earthquake … I ran outside expecting to see a lot of smoke,” they told the PA news agency.

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