Anyone from London/Kent know what that massive explosion was about an hour ago? I could feel the shockwave in my chest and the windows rattled. It was BIG.
Looks like Biggles playing around again. http://www.itv.com/news/story/2014-10-29/mystery-explosion-reported-in-kent/
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/tonbridge/news/mystery-explosion-in-west-kent-26123/ Sonic boom apparently- RAF jets intercepting mystery plane & escorting it.... EDIT: Ninja'd
Thanks for the link. I was googling but getting nothing but other people wondering the same as me. It doesn't explain what the noise was though. What shinnagins are they up to? Edit: A sonic boom? That loud and powerful over all of Kent? Seems unlikely to me, but then what do I know?
At a guess, I'd say the "explosion" that was heard was the sonic boom created by Biggles when he was getting a shift-on to intercept his target.
Except that such drastic course of action would have killed three innocent cargo pilots, as it turns out. Restraint is a sign of wisdom, not weakness
Coincidence or not, Portuguese jets have intercepted a Russian aircraft here in Portugal as well, it's all over the news here.
Sonic booms are LOUD, which is why Concorde was extremely limited as to where it could fly supersonically. That's almost certainly what you heard.
Sonic booms travel as a wave behind the jet, so will be heard by everyone it flies over. You don't just get one boom where it breaks through the sound barrier.
Must have been kinda cool for the RAF pilots, if they're not authorised for supersonic flight overland very often. I'd like to fly over that area of the country at supersonic speeds anyway..