Concorde was not flying again, a meteorite had not collided with Earth and there was no jumbo jet nose-diving toward the ground, despite what you may have heard.

Rumours flew around on Twitter and Facebook after a boom reverberated across the borough’s night sky, on Saturday, January 21.

Twitter user Seaspray56 wrote: “We heard it!! Thought it was passenger plane in trouble. It shook our house!! Flying so low!”

Conormcglone1 tweeted the paper to say: “I thought a 747 was going to come through my roof. If the world was to end, it’d sound like that!”

Others joked about aliens landing, but the truth was not quite as exciting.

The noise was in fact two Typhoon jet approaching RAF Northolt to familiarise pilots with the area ahead of their role protecting the London 2012 Olympics.

The planes did not land, but the Air Force warned there would be more flights in the future.

The jet fighters, normally based at RAF Coningsby, were not using afterburners during the flight, but their altitude of about 1,000ft ramped up the volume.

The planes will be based at RAF Northolt for the duration of the Games.

Northolt is about three miles from Heathrow and handles a host of military aircraft.

A spokesman for RAF Northolt said residents near the base were warned about the manoeuvres in advance, but people in other areas were not.

He said the RAF would look at whether to give advance notice to areas affected ahead of future missions.

He said: “We always regret anybody being disturbed but what I hope people will take from this is the reassurance that every measure will be taken to ensure the safety of the Olympic Games.”