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Sonic boom as Typhoon fighter jet breaks sound barrier over Bristol

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Friday, April 13, 2012
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This is Bristol

A loud bang heard in Bristol last night was caused by a sonic boom from a Typhoon fighter jet as it responded to an emergency, the MoD have said.

The noise as the aircraft broke through the sound barrier just after 6pm, creating a high-energy shockwave, sparked a deluge of calls to emergency services.

  1. The jet fighter over Shoscombe in Somerset. Picture from Oldfield Rugby Club on Twitter

    The jet fighter over Shoscombe in Somerset. Picture from Oldfield Rugby Club on Twitter

  2. Photo of the Typhoon taken from Odd Down (credit: Ric McLaughlin)

    Photo of the Typhoon taken from Odd Down (credit: Ric McLaughlin)

  3. The Typhoon circles above Coronation Ave in Bath (credit: Cathy Turner)

    The Typhoon circles above Coronation Ave in Bath (credit: Cathy Turner)

  4. Pic credit: Megan Kelland

    Pic credit: Megan Kelland

  5. Pic credit: Megan Kelland

    Pic credit: Megan Kelland

It was also heard in Bath, Somerset, the West Midlands, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.

Mystery surrounded the source of the noise for more than an hour, with speculation over what caused it ranging from a large explosion to a tremor under the earth.

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However, the Ministry of Defence and police said two supersonic aircraft were responding to an emergency call from a helicopter flying over the Bath area.

An Mod spokesperson said that the civilian helicopter had been emitting the sort of emergency signal which could indicate an aircraft had been hijacked.

The signal turned out to be a false alarm and police said the chopper had a faulty transponder.

He added: "We can confirm that a small civilian aircraft was transmitting inadvertently on an emergency frequency at approximately 6.10pm. Two Typhoons from the Quick Reaction Alert responded accordingly and authorisation was given from them to go supersonic which resulted in the sonic boom. There was no actual threat to the civilian aircraft and they soon rectified their mistake."

A statement from Avon and Somerset Police said: “We received reports of a loud bang in various locations in the force area at about 6.15pm.

“It is believed that this was from a sonic boom from jet aircraft passing over the area. The jets were responding to reports of a civilian helicopter that had a faulty transponder; the helicopter completed its journey and landed safe and well outside the force area with no issues.”

• Did you hear the sonic boom last night or have pictures of the fighter jets? Email Abigail.edge@northcliffemedia.co.uk.

Footage shot by Ric McLaughlin

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  • Profile image for SpinyHedgehog

    by SpinyHedgehog

    Saturday, April 14 2012, 8:35AM

    “SPECIAL UNREPEATABLE OFFER!!

    YOUR OWN GHOST-HAUNTED PIER!!!!

    Yes, you too can own your own pier, haunted by the ghosts of ancient astronauts, as certified by several local experts on the paranormal whose names I don't quite recall just at the moment. This relic of Victorian engineering, believed to have orginally been designed as a spaceship landing platform, can be yours for not five million, not two million, but ONLY ONE MILLION POUNDS!!

    IMAGINE THE JEALOUSY OF YOUR NEIGHBOURS WHEN THEY SEE A MYSTICAL INTERGALACTIC PIER IN YOUR GARDEN!!!

    HURRY HURRY HURRY!!! SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED (to just one, actually)

    Send your payment (in used notes) to Box 666, Bristol Post, Didcot, Oxfordshire, and this priceless antique can be YOURS!!!!!”

  • Profile image for SpinyHedgehog

    by SpinyHedgehog

    Saturday, April 14 2012, 8:24AM

    “@3131313131

    Saturday, April 14 2012, 1:18AM

    "Wow this is definitely a conspiracy. And to all of you who are clever enough to believe that this is so, I have some beans to sell you. These aren't any old beans mind you, these are MAGIC beans. Yeah that's right, proper magic beans"

    What? Gurt proper magic beans? Give I some of they! £500? - cheap at twice the price. And I'll have some of they spaceship parts, too, my babber.”

  • Profile image for Bristolexpat

    by Bristolexpat

    Saturday, April 14 2012, 7:23AM

    “How on earth are supersonic jet fighters going to help a helicopter in trouble apart from shooting it down?"



    .............and there's your answer right there.



    After 9/11 the military will pretty much shoot down any "hijacked" aircraft.

    The small loss of life on board is better than the larger loss of life on the ground should the craft be deliberately crashed.


    Plus the pilots must have had a great time!!!


    Tally-Ho!!!”

  • Profile image for Badladdy

    by Badladdy

    Friday, April 13 2012, 11:27PM

    “What about the photographic evidence of the unidentified object & the eye witness accounts of those who viewed it, what are your views on this?”

  • Profile image for dave_sombrero

    by dave_sombrero

    Friday, April 13 2012, 11:18PM

    “that's the thing, i don't need to put forward my own theories, the burden of proof is on the tin hat brigade to provide solid evidence that something else occurred.”

  • Profile image for Badladdy

    by Badladdy

    Friday, April 13 2012, 11:02PM

    “@dave_sombrero

    Rather than regurgitate worn-out cliches & throw petty insults, why not put forward your own argument?

    Several witnesses have said they saw an unidentified object in the sky & have provided photographic evidence.

    Anyone flying a helicopter has to have lot of experience, yet we are led to believe they accidentally gave a signal that they were being hijacked.

    You don't have to be a "conspiracy theorist" to come to the conclusion that the military is not telling the whole story here.

    That's not to say what was seen was a spaceship belonging to visitors from another planet. But something unidentified in our airspace would seem a much more likely explanation to scramble two fighters than the official story.”

  • Profile image for dave_sombrero

    by dave_sombrero

    Friday, April 13 2012, 9:08PM

    “@911InsideJob

    trying to discuss anything with a conspiracy theorist is a complete waste of time because you are right and because i disagree with you i therefore believe everything the media/goverment tell me. this is the case with every conspiracy theory out there.”

  • Profile image for 911InsideJob

    by 911InsideJob

    Friday, April 13 2012, 8:50PM

    “Dave, nice to see you've added such a lot to the discussion for us to think over, I should go and sit back down in the shade of that sombrero and take the strain off your brain box, else you may do yourself a mischief!”

  • Profile image for dave_sombrero

    by dave_sombrero

    Friday, April 13 2012, 5:49PM

    “@911InsideJob

    my brain box is fine thanks, how is the tin foil in yours?”

  • Profile image for 911InsideJob

    by 911InsideJob

    Friday, April 13 2012, 5:37PM

    “@stagnate & @dave-sombrero just try and think outside of the boxes that you have chosen to keep your minds in. Who makes up your reality, mostly the stories that you are presented with by the media, who are often quite happy, when they are tyrants like Murdoch, to sale a particular line on behalf of another interest, certainly not one that is true or in the UK's interest.They also hide or obscure information.

    Blair's spinning of non existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction for instance needed media support, and it came from those who were, like Murdoch, aligned with Israel for instance (interesting the claims about Israeli company NDS which is no doubt a Mossad front and Murdoch http://tinyurl.com/cv7x7po). The video footage of the collapse of WTC7 on 911 was also not shown on US TV, you can enlighten yourselves here http://tinyurl.com/4266g2p an organisation that includes victims families that pays for advertisements to screen this information on TV.

    A couple of Typhoons flitting around the sky is nothing to the cost of a wholesale attack on Iraq & Afghanistan and the taking down of Libya and probably a 3rd world war scenario with Iran next. My joke that it was the excuse for a RAF jolly was meant to state that the story sounded hollow, the fact that the Met office had said no weather balloons had been released but that eye witnesses had seen a rocket shaped object in the sky, the helicopter was blamed for transmitting on an emergency frequency when it seems there was a UFO in the same airspace - this has not been explained yet and all I asked is that it would be great to interview the helicopter pilot.

    I am also believe it or not a patriot and fear that the fools in control of this country are doing more harm than good, we currently have no carrier based fix wing aircraft anymore and the replacement is so far a very expensive failure (it has not been able to carrier land yet http://tinyurl.com/77tpxgg) - at least the Harriers wouldn't have caused sonic booms and could have one imagines been scrambled from Yeovilton just as quickly. Harrier pilots were the cream of the RAF, the Heroes of Falklands conflict and were unceremoniously dumped!”

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