A UFO?

According to a number of sources it was retired in the late 1990s.

We had a lecture last year at the gliding club by an ex-SR71 pilot. He stated that the aircraft was retired in 1990, briefly brought back in limited numbers and then retired again in the late 1990s. Of the 32 aircraft built 12 were lost in accidents and the other 20 are accounted for in museums.

Andrew

What else could it be then?

Just watched the news, nothing reported on there, guess that means it was either the Military or a UFO!

A few days too early for high speed Reindeer.

Surely if it were that fast you'd have heard a sonic boom? Something doesn't sound right if it managed to go from horizon to horizon at 50k feet (10 miles) like that. Sure it wasn't a firework or the neighbours or a bad bottle of wine?

Murray

When I was on a small ship anchored in Bahrain, I could watch the Concorde flight take off from Manama on the ship's radar. Wait for the engines roar and then see only three or four blips across the screen as the plane went off down the runway and into low altitude. Once above about 50 – 100 feet, it was lost. At about 1/2 mile, the roar was deafening.

Those the days before Concorde was allowed into the U.S.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Possibly a pair of aircraft lit up their afterburners for a few seconds and spaced in a way that you heard it as one aircraft travelling from horizon to horizon.

Martin

It might be a good idea to check up on others in the neighbourhood and ask if they heard anything unusual, if it bothers you that much that is. The chances are other people around might have got a better look at it.

I once heard an F16 and a Eurofighter typhoon in flight, they were miles away but it sounded like they were right ontop of me. You definitely hear these jet beasts moving. I think they were practising manoeuvres or possibly responding to a control tower call.

Possibly the loudest I've heard was a chinook twin rotor helicopter, it was probably about 120 feet above me and boy they make a racket!  Even at a distance there's just a gentle rumble in your stomach that graduates to a roar as it gets nearer. In the areas around Hampshire there seems to be a lot of helicopter training.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 19/12/2016 14:51:31

Back in the day the loudest ever was said to be the f111, but then having been to a Airshow and been underneath an EE Lightening going vertical all I wanted to do was jam my elbows into my stomach whilst still blocking my ears.