GRIMSBY, U.K. –  The Royal Air Force says none of its planes were responsible for the “sonic boom.”  So what was it?

Residents of Grimsby heard what sounded like a large explosion at about 7pm on Wednesday.

Initial fears that there had been an explosion were quickly allayed and authorities quickly confirmed that it was a sonic boom from an RAF plane.

Some thought the sonic boom occurred in outer space…

But no, it was an RAF plane:

WWN learned that The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is carrying out a low-flying operation named “Exercise Lightning Force” in the Grimsby area.

Squadron Leader Anne Jarman, based at Headquarters Air Command, said the noise was caused by an RAF aircraft, part of’ “fast jet units.”  She went on to say that a sonic boom occurs when an aeroplane breaks the sound barrier and the noise that you hear is the shockwave of area around the aircraft.

When local Grimsby residents heard the boom, they all ran inside, and hid under tables and beds.

“Hearing a sonic boom is something that some find ‘cool”, but many residents were frightened.  We had to calm our citizens,” said Mayor Tom Perklin.

“These things do happen and it is certainly not something that people should be scared about.”

Julie Siploin, who lives in nearby Laceby, said: “I heard a big bang and the whole house shook. ”I looked out of the window but all I saw was a plane flying over.”

Emma Lingard, of Healing, was tending to her horse in Immingham when the bang occurred. ”I heard a loud clatter on the roof and some pheasants flew off, so I thought it was an animal,” she said.

“I jumped and the horse jumped. I walked out of the stable and couldn’t see anything.

“When I returned to the car, where my son, Tom, was, he said the car had shook.

“Whatever it was, it was strong enough to shake a parked car.”

LONDON – Britain’s government has shut down its 50 year old UFO hotline because of costs!

Britain’s Ministry of Defense had a hotline operating, off and on, since 1959. It’s purpose was for citizens to report any possible UFO sightings, so the military could investigate.

But the department is no longer. The phone line has been shut down, as well as the e-mail account, which now auto-replies that it “will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them.”

The military does not state whether they do or do not support the belief in UFOs and extraterrestrials. They would only speak on their budgetary reasoning. Of the over 12,000 investigated UFO sightings, not a single one proved to be a national security threat.

Said a Ministry of Defense spokesperson, “None of the thousands of UFO sightings reported over the years have ever provided substantiated proof of the existence of extraterrestrials. There is no defense value in investigating UFO reports.”

In these hard times, the government could use the $73,000 a year the closure will save. However, many citizens are upset over the decision.

Roy Lake, founder of the London UFO Studies group, said, “I think it’s a stupid thing to do because this could create a threat to national security. We take this quite seriously. I think the government knows damn well what’s going on up there, and they’re covering it up.”

LONDON – Britain’s defence ministry has just released declassified UFO files to the general public.

The files, released by Britain’s National Archives, pertain to incidents from November 1987 to April 1993. The time period covers about 1,200 different UFO sightings!

One of the most fascinating cases was deemed so important that ministers were alerted. The Ministry of Defence received photos from two different members of the public, who witnessed a large diamond-shaped UFO in the sky on August 4, 1990. The newspaper Scottish Daily Record caught wind of the photos and wanted an official statement from the MoD, leading ministers to be instructed to state that no definite conclusions were reached on the UFO.

Other reports include a helicopter crew that nearly hit a 600-foot long craft, and a woman out walking her dog who was approached by a man with a “Scandanavian-type accent” dressed in a brown “flying suit”. He stated that he was from another planet, his race was behind the crop circles and that their visits were friendly.

The files can be read and downloaded as PDFs at the National Archives website.