This Thursday, residents of Loiret, particularly those residing in the east of the department, were alerted by two large explosions coming from the sky, report our colleagues from France Bleu. Very quickly, social networks caught fire. The prefecture then published a press release: it was two fighter planes heading towards the Saint-Dizier base which were the source of the noise.
The two military aircraft flew over Montargis, Amilly and Lorris in the early evening. These are two Rafale combat aircraft. Powerful, they are capable of breaking the sound barrier, which causes a sort of explosion when they fly at this speed. The two pilots had therefore exceeded 1,200 km/h, or Mach 1 in the jargon.
Two Rafale towards Saint-Dizier
When a fighter jet passes over a house at that speed, the windows and walls shake, and the occupants can hear explosions following seconds later. The two soldiers were therefore surely in a hurry to return after their training or deployment on a mission, but history does not specify this.
The two planes were heading to air base 113 in Saint-Dizier in Haute-Marne, which is about three hours east of the Loiret. “Two Rafale planes having broken the sound barrier as they returned to their base in Saint-Dizier. Event over,” tweeted the prefecture of Loiret and Center-Val-de-Loire around 9:30 p.m. in order to reassure the population.
France
