Residents were startled by loud military aircraft flying over Swindon in the early hours of the morning.
Many posted on social media about the incredibly loud noise, with some claiming they were woken up by it at around 3am.
Others reported that their houses were shaken.
Flight radar activity at the time seems to suggest that the cause of the noise was from a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III followed by a Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter.
One resident, Danielle Brown-Kelly, posted Ring Doorbell footage on Twitter/X to showcase how loud the noise was.
Busy night in the sky! Felt like the whole house shook. It was definitely louder than what the doorbell picked up. pic.twitter.com/p67kGa3KxX
— Dannii 🌸 (@STFC_Danni) March 5, 2026
She said: "Busy night in the sky! Felt like the whole house shook, it was definitely louder than what the doorbell picked up."
She had previously asked in an earlier post: "Did that wake anyone else up? The whole house shook!"
Other residents commented on a post by Wendy Adams on a local community Facebook page about the early-morning disruption.
She said, "Did anyone hear the military aircraft, early hours of this morning?" before adding, "It was very loud and yes for quite a while, no sleep for me after that."
Another person replied to her: "Yes, it was very loud and shook the house. It woke me up even though I wear earplugs."
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This follows Prime Minister Keir Starmer's decision to allow UK airbases to be used for defensive purposes as part of the ongoing military action that the United States and Israel have taken against Iran.
However, it is understood that the activity from Wednesday morning was not related to the conflict in the Middle East.
Swindon has two airbases relatively close by, RAF Fairford and RAF Brize Norton, and the latter is participating in a training operation called Exercise Agile Warrior 26.
This is a long-planned major homeland defence training activity, which launched this week to rigorously test the RAF's ability to protect the United Kingdom.
The exercise is set to last two weeks with air and ground units across multiple RAF stations simulating the effects of cyber-attacks, long-range precision strike threats and persistent attempts to disrupt UK air operations.
Speaking ahead of the exercise, chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth said: "Here at home, we are seeing regular incursions into our sovereign waters and airspace by hostile agents that don't play by our rules."
"We see regular examples of espionage and sabotage that seek to affect our economy, undermine our democracy, and disrupt our very way of life," he said.
"It's through this lens, protecting our homeland, that we prepare for Exercise Agile Warrior - what we do, and how we do it, really matters."
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