h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Remembering an incident over Norfolk in the spring of 1988: one evening in April or May we a series of excruciatingly loud bangs in the sky, which an ex-RAF guy who was a postgrad student at UEA identified as sonic bangs from military aircraft. His interpretation was that some sort of chase was going on up there, possibly RAF or at a pinch USAF planes chasing off an intruder. Which explained why military planes were doing something they are not normally allowed to do over built-up areas in peacetime - going supersonic. Apparently this happens a lot and it's "part of the game". (He also thought it was more likely to have been RAF rather than the Yanks, as nobody was actually shooting or firing missiles, which make a different sort of noise followed by a short sharp shower of metal) We looked for accounts or explanations of this in the news, both on TV and in the press - nothing. It was as if it had never happened. And in recent years we have had Russian planes testing British airspace.