Shock as US jets fly at 500ft over Scotland's central belt

The United States Air Force has confirmed several of its fighter jets were training in Scotland on Thursday.

On social media people in the central belt reported their shock at seeing two jets making low passes over central Scotland between 17:00 and 18:00.

Many took to social media to say the noise had given them a fright, others asked what the planes were doing.

The United States Air Force confirmed on Friday that its F-15 jets were conducting night terrain exercises.

Plane tracking website flightradar.com showed that there were multiple US fighters over the UK on Thursday evening.

The USAF said the planes had come from the US Air base at RAF Lakenheath and some of the passes were as low as 500ft.

A spokeswoman told BBC Scotland: "We can confirm that F-15 jets from the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath conducted night terrain following radar operations in Scotland yesterday.

"This training is required to maintain combat proficiency and entails aircrew flying at an altitude of 500-1,000 feet.

"While we take maximum care to avoid overpopulated areas especially during night operations to mitigate noise impacts, we apologise for any disturbance and inconvenience caused."

George Allison, editor of the UK Defence Journal website, spotted the planes over his home.

He said: "Essentially, the F-15s were conducting training which is entirely routine. What isn't routine or normal is the flight path through central Scotland.

"There were no risks to the public, it's just remarkable in that the aircraft were so low and in a part of the UK they're rarely in."

He concluded: "In short, I'd be willing to bet that they were conducting night-time navigation training and, at worst, they went the wrong way returning to base in England."

The rare occurrence sparked a stream of Tweets.

Twitter user @teagsy_ wrote: "Not every day you go for a wee nap and get woken up by two fighter jets flying overhead. Why are US Air Force jets flying over Scotland?"

Lee @didyougetmynote wrote: "So two US fighter jets just flew over my area of Scotland and everyone thought we were getting bombed."

Bob Deavy posted a video from his dog walk to show how loud the noise was. He said: "Out walking Cooper when two fighter jets flew over. What a noise."

And Conor Mockler @ConchurMoicleir tweeted: "Two US F15 fighter jets just flew over the central belt of Scotland - actually thought the world was ending and life flashed before my eyes."