What was it?

[Paddy]

A loud bang which sparked a deluge of calls to emergency services across a large part of England was a sonic boom from a Typhoon aircraft, the MoD said.

Mystified residents across the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire reported hearing a loud boom at about 18:10 BST.

The MoD revealed it was from a Typhoon responding to an emergency call.

Minor' quake hits Midlands
A "minor" earth tremor has hit the UK, police said.

Police received reports of the tremor affecting the area between Malvern and Worcester.
West Mercia Constabulary confirmed there had been a minor earth tremor

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: "It was a very minor tremor. We have had no reports of any damage whatsoever.

"We have had about 15 to 20 calls from members of the public at most."

A spokesman for the British Geological Survey said: "We have had quite a few calls reporting an earthquake so it seems like it is something.
The seismologists are looking in to it right now."

A statement released by the BGS said the earthquake measured 3.6 on the Richter Scale. It said the earthquake's "locality" was Bromyard in Herefordshire.

According to reports given by residents to the BGS, the earthquake felt like "a thump as if someone had jumped off the bed upstairs".

Another report described it as a "loud boom noise, as though something extremely heavy had fallen on the wood floor above my head".

The statement from the BGS added: "The strength of the shaking has been described as moderate, enough to make furniture shake and windows or crockery rattle. Some reports indicate that people were woken from sleep and a few were frightened."

...

 

[bless 'em all]

It was the RAF deploying their show-of-strength over a taliban stronghold.

West-Bromwich.

 

[amcdonald]

It was the RAF deploying their show-of-strength over a taliban stronghold.

West-Bromwich.

It would make more sense than being in Afghanistan

 

[Cliphead]

An emergency? A fast jet going supersonic in UK airspace is rare, sounds like an intercept.

 

[realityhack]

An emergency? A fast jet going supersonic in UK airspace is rare, sounds like an intercept.

You're right. Typhoon intercepted a helicopter after the pilot mistakenly keyed the hijack code into the transponder.

 

[pacharan]

Anyone from the West will remember the "9 o clock bangs" that were often reported on BBC's local news bulletin "Points west".

The source of these mysterious rumblings? Concorde throttling back and breaking the sound barrier as she cleared the Somerset coast.

 

[DimPrawn]

I remember the 9 o'clock bangs.


Sadly they stopped shortly after I got married.

 

[Cliphead]

Anyone from the West will remember the "9 o clock bangs" that were often reported on BBC's local news bulletin "Points west".

The source of these mysterious rumblings? Concorde throttling back and breaking the sound barrier as she cleared the Somerset coast.

If Concorde throttled back it would be in the sea

 

[EternalOptimist]

I remember the 9 o'clock bangs.


Sadly they stopped shortly after I got married.

ah yes. the rattling windows, the earth shaking, tightly clenched bedsheets and the missus saying, 'it's beautiful. and all bendy at the front'