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Seeing on twitter of an explosion near swindon. There's a fighter jet currently circling around Bath (was quite low a minute ago).

Don't want to jump to conclusions, but has something bad happened?

Heard it about 10 minutes ago.

Heard and thought it was thunder, but now seeing people reporting explosions it must have been that.

I was in my bathroom and heard a huge BANG! Thought some little shit had thrown something at the House?!

Going by how so many people seem to have heard it over such a wide area, I'm guessing a sonic boom.

A fighter jet? Or a large meteor maybe?

Heard it here in chippy

Or maybe it was thunder? I'm the other side of Salisbury, towards Bournmouth, and we experienced the exact same thing, at roughly the same time. No way would the sound of an explosion travel that far, but thunder could.

Apparantly some RAF plane did a fast thing

Definitely sounded like a jet boom.

Surprised, because I thought they had to be over water before they were allowed to break Mach 1.

Heard it here in Ciren, thought it was my door slamming shut

Heard it loud and clear in Shrivenham.

Sonic booms are surprisingly loud

Same here I heard a bang and the window vibrating, thought the cats were jumping on the conservatory roof.

Didn't hear anything in kusadasi, turkey.

the adver posted this, in the future (6:57pm Thursday 12th January 2012):

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/uk_national_news/9469441._Earthquake__probably_due_to_plane/

I didnt hear it.  But then again Im in leeds.  Is the beginning of the end of the world happening in Swindon?  Just when the football thing is going so well?

Ive got people on twitter saying that they heard it in shrivenham, fairford, bassett and devizes so must have been bloody loud

Just been reported on the Local news that there's been a loud bang in the North Oxfordshire area. Although i've not heard anything in Bicester.

It was no louder than Concorde used to make every day. It's just not a noise that you hear regularly any more.

I heard fuck all.

I reckon Paul Scally is to blame, the Twat!

Maybe one of these caused it, but saying on radio heard in coventry and leamington spa

You don't get just one boom. It's continuous, it's just perceived to be heard once.

Is it aliens? Because it is I have to fashion my beard into a handlebar moustache, make some sort of weapon and prepare an arsenal of quips ready for each alien I kill.

I wasted so much time after the last false alarm  ???

Massive bang, about 18:15, I was in the garden in SN5, no sound of sirens since. Thought it might be thunder but sounded different and no flash before? Strange.

maybe someone has just wiped oxford off the face of the earth

Reported on Points West, we heard it loud and clear here in Swindon - did clear all the birds out of the area for a few minutes.  My initial thoughts were it was a sonic boom.

There is a big military exercise on, so could be a sonic boom

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/ex-joint-warrior-12042012 (http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/ex-joint-warrior-12042012)

Heard nothing in West Swindon ???

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17697328

MoD investigating

A big giant fart

My missus heard it in Kenilworth. I didn't hear it in Kenilworth.

Heard nothing in London.

  :alien:

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom

Boom Boom.

Basil Brush has denied responsibilty.

For those old enough to understand.  You are.

A russian sex satellite has crashed into coate water, the whole park has been cordoned off and the government have declared it area 69.

Apparently it was an RAF Typhoon responding to an 'emergency call'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17697328

I didn't know you could summon an RAF jet via such a call!

I hope they get a speeding ticket, they didn't have their lights flashing

Yeah right  ::)

Cat up a tree?

Can't remember ever hearing Concord(e)'s boom, where were you to hear that?!

I didn't think concord was allowed to break the barrier over land? I'm probably wrong though.

Concorde's flight path used to go directly over Swindon, one could see it on a clear day.

I remember it (the boom) was often heard late afternoon in the summertime. Don't know why I only noticed it in the summertime

Depends how old you are Batch.
When I was a kid and it was being developed at Filton it regularly flew over Glos - well that's my memory anyway; it was a very long time ago.

I'm 37. Not that old, Concorde was well in service at the time.

Only Dr. Hans Zarkov, formerly of nasa has offered any explanation.. So... FLASH.. AGHHH! Saviour of the universe!

realise we all know what actually happend

You never heard Concorde's sonic boom. It didnt go supersonic until well out into the atlantic. Concorde did however have very very loud engines even at subsonic speeds.

Not quite old enough to remember that.

I was interested because they banned supersonic flights over land, which kind of knackered the Concord order books, hence why only BA and Aif France ended up with them.

Wasn't doubting Samdy, just didn't think the sonic boom reached this far. I feel like I've missed out on something now!

Sonic boom, a boom boy

Where is the FLASH when you need him?

heard the noise in compton bassett - definite double boom.  i thought it soubded a bit wierd for thunder...

Two fighter jets flew across Lacock this morning not far above pylon height, was out with my dog, it frightened the life out of me and her as they came right over our heads. Don't see them flying that low around here very often. I heard a massive clap of thunder around three thirty today, it was a one off but bloody loud.

I get the blame again!

Sonic booms are ace

When a plane flies faster than the speed of sound, it pushes the sound ahead of it so much that the sound compresses. It compresses so much that the compressed sound creates the 'boom'. What's best though is that you can also see it. When a jet breaks the sound barrier it looks as though water vapour is pouring off it. That isn't water, it's sound. You can literally see the sound.

It's all waves and stuff

Woah awesome dude

It's gnarly bro

Nice Bloke has the answer.............

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17697328

As someone else has allready pointed out......................I'll probably get abuse for that

isnt google a wonderfull thing ;D

Or car :)

[url width=640 height=293]http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj33/vin63/ThrustSSCShockwave.jpg[/url]

Thrust SSC

It's okay, Arriba's not around

It was eric banging against the town end gates

And stampeding over Elm Park at the same time...

Until the girls in the club shop chased him off.

You most definitely could hear concorde's boom. I remember hearing it as a kid.

Google suggests that it was allowed to accelerate above Mach 1 over the Bristol channel, so it's logical that you could hear it in Swindon.

I know there were a lot of complaints from residents on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall who would get the worst of the boom.

all this talk of Sonic Booms

made me think of this band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-4KokEQDXQ

You must be really old then Samdy!

25 isn't that old.

Somebody actually lives in Compton Bassett?

SONIC BOOM (6)!

dozy cunt

Aaah right, ta. Can't recall hearing it in Ciren. Didn't hear today's either.  I feel left out.

We heard it down here in South Somerset too, thought it was a loud clap of thunder but the sky was pretty clear.

Having heard 1st hand a sonic boom about 50 yards above my head several years ago I can say that it was exactly the same sound as a sonic boom.

But why was it heard over such a distance? from Lincoln, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset, thats a bloody big area.

The 'boom' travels. It's a wave

A laser from here will be seen a bit later 500 miles aways, it's still the same laser

Typhoon is based at Coningsby, so Coventry > Warwick > Oxfordshire > Wiltshire would suggest they were scrambled to somewhere over the South West.

The boom would be heard the whole way, as I posted earlier it is a constant sound but the only way it would appear constant would be if you are travelling at the same speed and remain at the same distance.

I remember seeing/hearing concorde when I was little too

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17697328

Explains what Dave saw in Bath.

Yeah, but what about the similar noise heard over Norwich yesterday...of course the " powers that be" are going to suggest a rational explanation....but something strange is going on here. Is it a coincidence that all the Gillingham messagebords have disappeared at roughly the same time as it's announced next Sats game will be played in front of no fans?

Just to add to the conspiracy theories, two Typhoon jets were seen escorting a larger jet plane over Norfolk yesterday evening.

And then this happens overnight...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17698438

Coincidence? Yes, probably.

That almost reads like a Newsthump story.

I've seen a lot of "Sonic boom - yeah, right" type of comments on Twitter and Facebook. What else do people expect it to be? If it was an explosion of some sort, then I'm sure someone would've found the source by now.

I've no doubt it was a Typhoon. Whether the whole Helicopter in distress story is true is another matter.

Some geek serving me in the Co-Op last night was waffling on about how it couldn't have been a sonic boom for various reasons. I just switched off and nodded along.
Just scan my fucking bread and milk and let me go home!

I remember concorde passing over Ferndale Road (always at the same time, 11 i think) en route to the USofA when i was round my nans as a kid. You could hear it too, but not the sonic boom i didn't think?

Clearly a sonic boom. It's a bit of a strange story by the MOD though. How often does a helicopter in trouble result in 2 fighter jets coming to it's aid? Wouldn't be surprised if there something lurking in our airspace that shouldn't have been there.

TBH, I'd rather have the cock and bull story about a helicopter in distress than be told they averted a mass air strike or the like.

Ignorance is bliss and all that.

I hope aliens crash landed.

I hope Reg's conspiracy theory goes the way of this too.

concorde used to fly heathrow-NYC over my old house in old town at 7.10pm in the evening. again could only see/hear it in summer

I live in Bath and got home just before the Typhoons arrived.They came across Bath at low level and one of them circled the helicopter at low speed and with 90degs of bank.

The helicopter had sent out a signal from box called a transponder which is used by all commercial aircraft to work with Air Traffic Control.  If the pilot puts a 4 digit ,which i believe is '7000' it appears on a radar screen as a hijack.

At the same time,a Weather Balloon was at around 5,000' north of Bath.  I watched the Typhoons leave Bath and check this out.  One of them carried out tight turns around the Balloon.  They both departed Westbound shortly afterwards.

Well they must have known it was a helicopter even if it was sqwuaking 7500. But I guess a helicopter can cause all sorts of misery to a populated area, and it makes sense to scramble two jets just in case one goes wrong/gets taken out.

verdict: No aliens..

or are there...

the truth is out there

Weird - you couldn't see it at 7.10pm in the winter ?

Couldn't hear it either. Perhaps the clouds absorbed, and the wind dissipated, the sound?

maybe it was dark and he couldn't see it

Well yeah, obviously, duh!  :sherlock:

But how does it being dark explain why it could not be heard? (assuming it was even flying overhead at all)

I bet the pilot of the helicopter needed some dry cleaning done after seeing those two buggers coming at him.

Because sound moves at the speed of light, and at night there is no light, so no speed, so no sound.

Nice logic, but considering that sound moves at the speed of sound, I see a flaw.

Ah, you spotted the slight miscalcuation...

A pretty major one at that!

If ever there was a thread for it...


Whoosh!

It was such poetic logic that I feel dirty for pointing out such a minor detail.

There was a North Korean missile launch yesterday - maybe the RAF thought it had gone a bit off course

Just a few trillion miles per hour.

And ahead of schedule

Heard rumours that it may have been something to with the Royals

A conspiracy theory?

I love this stuff, please do elaborate.....

Yep, wouldnt put anything past those plastic cunts

Reading playing Southampton tonight

Reading to win. Hate so'ton.

Reading are 1-0 up but Southampton have been battering them.

That has got to be one of the best sidetracks ever in a TEF thread!  Bang>UFO's>Royal Family> Reading>Match discussion

Good work all

Classic TEF.

Shouldn't that be a boom rather than a whoosh in this case.

Is the game televised?

Sorry - I was being my normal self again.

Having done a bit of googling, yes it is televised  :D

The signals of improvement are positive are positive in this one.

Twice as positive?

Do two positives make a negative?

What's happening in the Reading game now?

2-1 Reading, Le Fondre scored.

I remember the day adam le fondre met the ralphy 8)

a very drunk Ralph too :)

you not fancy golf next weekend? Me Jason, Jimmy and Shaun are going up Hincksy Heights

3-1 Le Fondre again.

[url width=604 height=453]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x480/tanswell2010/505283728_415873638728.jpg[/url]

Ralphy made his career ;)

Cant mate

Just heard a huge bang in South West London - definitely more than thunder. Maybe more typhoons are flying about.

Can't be a coincidence with the North Korea missile testing!