A LOUD bang heard in Huntingdonshire yesterday was a sonic boom caused by a jet aircraft.

Residents heard the loud noise at 11.40am this morning, prompting a flood of calls to Cambridgeshire police.

The bang could also be heard in Essex and Hertfordshire.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the noise was a sonic boom - a bang is caused when an aircraft breaks through the sound barrier (768mph).

The bang was heard throughout Hertfordshire, as well as in Essex and parts of Cambridgeshire.

Officials at the MoD said a Eurofighter Typhoon from RAF Coningsby had been scrambled after air controllers lost communication with a Heathrow-bound plane.

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