The MoD yesterday admitted that supersonic war planes were the most likely cause of a big bang heard that rattled buildings and left people in the Western Isles islanders shaken.
The huge bang was heard as far apart as Benbecula and Barra – a distance of more than 55 miles.
It was thought at first to have come from a local quarry or the result of military ordnance blown up on a beach.
Sheila MacCormick, of the Borrodale Hotel in South Uist, said: “The building shook.
“When we looked out there was people walking on the road – who were standing looking around to see what had happened.”
At first military and civil aviation controllers denied that any aircraft in the airspace at the time could have caused the bang and tremor but after inquiries admitted it was almost certainly a jet fighter breaking the sound barrier.
“It was most likely a supersonic jet belonging to the RAF or US Air Force on a routine training flight,” said a spokesman for the RAF.
“To hear a supersonic boom is rare. However in certain climatic conditions they can be heard and this is what most likely happened in this case. It was probably us.”
Supersonic planes most likely cause of Scottish islands ‘big bang’
