I'm sitting in my apartment in Central London with the door open onto my terrace and have just experienced an earth shaking booming explosion like noise following a 'jet engine' like wooshing sound overhead.

I've lived on airbases before and know what a sonic boom sounds like - and that's just like this!

Can anyone else in the area confirm this?

Can we assume this is maybe some kind of aircraft/missile or is there anything else that could have cause this?

Repeat this doesn't sound like an explosion - it sounds like a sonic boom and came from overhead definitely.

It shook all my windows and floor!

I'm on the flight-path to both Heathrow and London City Airport - but as far as I'm aware they don't serve supersonic aircraft.

Could fighters have been scrambled for some kind of terrorist event at the airports? Just a theory...

No i live by wembley stadium and heard nothing.

When did it happen uk time?

I also live in London and this has been happening more and more often latley,

I think it may be more testing rather than a scramble as other times i have heard this nothing has come about it,

Interesting though as im under the impression that they should not be doing this over a populated area,

Could it be Olympic security related testing. Im sure the Airforce would have fly over permission for that.

Happened just as I made the post so for exact time go to that and subtract 1 min or something.

I have heard similar 'bangs' before but nothing like this so close.

I thought it was illegal for any commercial or military jet to go supersonic over a populated area? Remember, Concorde used to have to wait until it was over the sea before going SS.

This seriously shook my windows etc and set off car alarms outside. It could have caused damage - so can't imagine it's something planned?

Over zealous young pilot? - Like Tom Cruise buzzing the control tower in Top Gun? Lol.

OR - dare I say it - did I just hear Aurora?

On a more serious note - and correct me if this sounds absurd - but I can't imagine any reason for the airforce to be going supersonic over UK soil short of an enemy invasion?

I mean - super sonic jets responding to terror attack on the ground? Why?

30 miles north of london, I heard nothing

But then, I'm at work and have the stereo on, so i wouldn't have done. I just wanted to play in the thread

*throws a pen*

Working at Bank and didn't hear anything , sorry .
2nd line
and ooh look a 3rd line

Hey guys, there a thread started about this noise in staten island n.y.....
Maybe a link??????
I know, would be rather huge to hear in both places, but...

Interesting stuff.

I'm pretty sure I heard a sonic boom in the skies over Grantham town centre in January of this year early one afternoon. It was a bit cloudy so I could see nothing up above, but it most definitely didn't sound like your average fighter jet flying overhead which of course frequent the Grantham and Lincolnshire area, and the sound was quite protracted, maybe lasting 20-30 seconds.

A sonic boom can actually be 150 miles out and still rattle glasses on a shelf. We had a series of earthquakes in Hawaii around 3.0-3.5 that they eventually figured out were F-4 Phantoms from the HiANG going supersonic about 150 miles off shore. If they were over the city I would expect to see reports of damage and broken windows.

Although most militaries of the world have a rule about going supersonic over populated areas thus causing a sonic boom, it does happen from time to time. Pilots sometimes get a little antsy to push the limits.

so, as the OP said, it sounded like a sonic boom, and was followed by the sound of a jet.

Having said that, why did you post this in the Alien and UFO forum?

It is illigal to break the sound barrier over land in the UK and they certainly do not do it over air bases. Ex RAF.

Strange. But then again, when has "illegal" ever stopped Governments/Military?

They have this idealism that since "they" make things illegal, that they can do it anyway.

The Olympics is a good possibility ... I get that "something's gonna happen" feeling when I think of the Olympics, andsonic booms over London a couple months beforehand certainly seems that the Government have reason to believe that they need such huge security measures.