- The mystery was solved last night over the cause of a
two-mile, near perfect 'O' shape that appeared 30,000ft above East Anglia.
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- After a day when many people believed they had seen a
UFO and when a local newspaper speculated that the ring was a halo created
by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals, the explanation turned
out to be rather more prosaic.
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- The cause was an American air force F15 fighter jet.
And it was on a training flight - not, as many people in the region had
believed, involved in a stunt to publicise the 11 Oscars won by the latest
Lord of the Rings film. Many thousands of people witnessed the formation
of the ring - or rings, according to some accounts - late on Monday afternoon.
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- Mike Easton, 50, a chartered surveyor, photographed the
phenomenon as it formed due west of his home at Blofield, Norfolk. "It
was a nice sunset so I stuck my head out of the window and saw this amazing
circle. It was pretty impressive," said Mr Easton.
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- Initially it was thought that a Tornado jet from RAF
Marham, north Norfolk, or a Jaguar from RAF Coltishall, near Norwich, could
have been responsible. But both bases said their aircraft were not involved.
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- Then, late yesterday, a USAF spokesman at Lakenheath,
Suffolk, said one of its F15s was responsible while carrying out "a
routine manoeuvre".
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- Lt Ed Ekpoudom said: "The pilot said he was just
doing a manoeuvre at 33,000ft at around sunset when the conditions were
conducive for a vapour trail to form. He is surprised to hear how it appeared
from the ground."
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/03/nring03
.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/03/ixhome.html
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