Hundreds of people from Leicester to Oxford have heard the roaring sound of a ‘sonic boom’ believed to be down to piercingly fast fighter jets.

Startled residents across south and east England say their houses rattled as the noise of a mysterious ‘explosion’ tore through the air at around 12:10pm.

People leapt onto Twitter to ask a stream of panicked questions: ‘What happened?’, ‘Did you anyone else hear that?’ and even ‘Aircraft or meteor?’

While Facebook community groups for people in Rugby, Witney, Daventry, Bicester and beyond all asked the same thing: ‘Sonic boom?’

Not knowing the cause of the sound, some described how the ground ‘shook’ during the ‘frightening explosion’.

Twitter user Dr Jon Sutton said: ‘Massive boom heard over a wide area of Leicestershire. Aircraft, or meteor?’

Another user said: ‘Just had what I believe a sonic boom in Leicester, the house literally shook, heard across Leicestershire.’

One man tweeting under the name ‘Grumpy’ said: ‘Loud bang. Patio door shakes. All the birds in the area in the air. Sonic boom? Explosion?’

A sonic boom is a deafening noise that people on the ground hear when something flies faster than the speech of sound, which is about 760mph, all but shattering the air and creating a massive soundwave.

Citing data from FlightRadar24, an aircraft monitoring website, Aviation Highlights suggested the sound was down to Royal Air Force (RAF) jets zooming above.

Experts believe it was an RAF Typhoon, also called a Eurofighter Typhoon, that intercepted a plane that had suffered radio failure, which then landed at an airfield in Epping.

‘RAF Typhoons scrambled to intercept this Dash 8 aircraft which experienced radio failure and was heading to London,’ Aviation Highlights tweeted.

‘The fighters were reportedly supersonic on their way south from RAF Coningsby.’

FlightRadar24 also showed another aircraft, an RAF Voyager tanker, had also been scrambled from the RAF Brize Norton base.

‘This is to allow the Typhoons to refuel whilst staying airborne,’ Aviation Highlights said.

‘Flying supersonic isn’t the most fuel-efficient way to fly a fighter jet! All these aircraft are on standby 24/7 for scenarios like this.’

Leicestershire Police said: ‘We have received numerous calls in relation to a large explosion sound heard from various parts of the city and county.

‘We like to reassure you that there is no concern however thank you for your immediate response to us.’

Metro.co.uk contacted Northamptonshire Police for comment.

Did you hear the ‘sonic book’? Get in touch by emailing [email protected] or emailing us at [email protected].

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‘Aircraft or meteor?’