RAF plane’s sonic boom causes explosion fears

RESIDENTS across eastern England mistook a passing RAF Typhoon jet for an explosion, prompting calls to police in three counties.

By The Newsroom

Published 17th Jun 2013, 10:13 BST

A Typhoon fighter jet. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The noise was heard at 11:30 on Sunday morning, when the jet broke the sound barrier. The plane’s burst reportedly smashed windows and caused houses to shake.

Inspector Matt Snow of Cambridgeshire Police told the BBC: “We’ve had reports of windows being smashed.

“It was so loud another person thought his neighbour’s house had blown up.

“People have said they’d never heard anything so loud in their lives.”

The MOD said a Typhoon from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire was launched to intercept a plane which has lost communication with Heathrow’s air traffic control tower.

It is understood the plane from the USA landed without incident.