Newark residents surprised by RAF fighter jet noise

RAF Coningsby said the jets were taking place in a training exercise

RAF fighter jets having been carrying out night training flights in the skies over Nottinghamshire.

Noise from two typhoon jets was heard by Newark-on-Trent residents on Tuesday night with them questioning the cause.

One said: "Never heard the like, really disturbing". While another called it "crazy amounts" of noise.

RAF Coningsby said the flights were part of a night training exercise for aircrew and would take place for the next three weeks.

The noise, which some said had been going on all evening, led many people to take to social media to ask what was happening.

Andrew Boddy, asked on Facebook: "Why are fighter jets playing over Newark at this time of night?"

Andrew Kemp questioned: "Fighter jets practising over Newark is they something government not telling us?"

Other residents understood what the noise over the town was, including Anne Lisa Price who commented on a Facebook post: "Practicing in case they ever need to fight for us".

Station Commander at Coningsby, Group Captain Matt Peterson, said it was "routine training that serves a number of necessary purposes".

He said pilots needed to regularly practice at night to maintain competency and it was "essential to ensure we are ready to defend our interests around the world at a moment's notice".

"Whether it is undertaking Quick Reaction Alert in the UK, or deployed operations elsewhere in the world, we need to be ready to use the full range of the aircraft and its operator's abilities, both day and night," he added.

"I do know that we can be 'noisy neighbours' therefore, I am extremely grateful to the local community for their understanding and incredible support for all we do."

Residents will potentially hear the jets training over several nights

The RAF said the exercises were due to be carried out on Monday to Thursday evenings until 13 April.

However, it is not clear if all the training will be carried out over Nottinghamshire.

On Saturday, three typhoon jets from RAF Coningsby and RAF crew were deployed to Romania as part of a NATO mission to increase presence in Europe in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It includes 150 personnel based at RAF Wittering and has been described as "a purely defensive operation".