Sonic boom Norfolk — A loud bang was heard across Norfolk and Suffolk at around 4.30pm, with residents in Norwich, Ipswich, Swaffham and Lingwood reporting rattling windows and shaking buildings as jets flew overhead. Several witnesses described hearing two sharp blasts, and in some areas aircraft were seen in the sky, although they did not appear on flight-tracking services. The Ministry of Defence later confirmed that no RAF aircraft were involved. The noise is believed to have been caused by a sonic boom, produced when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound. This is reported by The WP Times, citing GB News.
People across East Anglia described the sound as similar to an explosion. A woman working in Norwich city centre said she was sitting near a window when the bang struck. “It felt like something had crashed into the building and the windows were shaking,” she said, adding that she could hear jets overhead. Another resident said the sound was so strong it “felt like a bomb” had gone off nearby.
Simon Boston, who was filling up at a petrol station in Necton near Swaffham, said he initially thought it was a road accident. “I thought it had been a car crash on the A47,” he said. Nick Broad, a retired professional pilot based in Lingwood, described hearing a distinctive “double boom”. “It was definitely a boom. The window shook. It startled me,” he said.
Jemima Miller, 22, who was walking her dog in Norwich, said the jets became so loud she could no longer hear her music. “Then there were two big bangs that shook the area. I could see the plane above and thought I was being shot at,” she said.
A sonic boom occurs when an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, producing shockwaves that compress and decompress the air. When those waves reach the ground, they are heard as a loud explosion-like bang, sometimes in two parts. At around 60,000 feet, the speed of sound is roughly 660 miles per hour, and an aircraft exceeding that speed can be heard over a wide area.
The Ministry of Defence said there had been no RAF Quick Reaction Alert, which would have involved Typhoon fighter jets taking off from RAF Lossiemouth or RAF Coningsby. The department said it does not comment on the activities of foreign military aircraft. The identity of the aircraft that caused the noise has not been confirmed. Social media users across Norfolk and Suffolk reported their homes shaking, with posts describing the noise as “extremely scary” and saying it sounded like a crash or explosion.
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