US fighter jets - thought to be F15s - were spotted over Upton last night.

Aircraft enthusiast Kelvin Willis said he was driving at 6pm when he heard the roar of the jets.

"There was a tremendous noise and I looked up to see two fully-armed fighter jets" said Mr Willis.

"I only saw them for a few seconds but they appeared to be coming in from the coast over Hamworthy and Upton."

Mr Willis, who lives in Upton, said: "I am keen on planes and enjoy going to air shows. I live on the flight path to Bournemouth Airport and often watch the planes going there but these were going in the opposite direction."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence was unable to reveal details but said the planes could have been F15s, currently based at RAF Lakenheath.

He said Hawk aircraft are based at Yeovil, Typhoons at Coningsby in Lincolnshire and Tornadoes at Marham in Norfolk.

But aviation enthusiasts on Twitter said they believed the planes were RAF Tornados on routine training.

 

And on Wednesday, a C17 was taking part in a routine training exercise over Hurn.

 


 

In January, Russian military planes flying near UK airspace south of Bournemouth caused "disruption to civil aviation" according to the Foreign Office It said the Russian aircraft did not enter UK airspace, but the manoeuvres were "part of increasing pattern of out-of-area operations" by Russia.

The planes were "escorted" by RAF jets "throughout the time they were in the UK area of interest", officials added.

Russia's ambassador was summoned to "account for the incident".

It was reported that the two bombers came within 25 miles of the UK and travelled around the British Isles, flying from the north, past the west coast of Ireland and back through the English channel. It has also been said the bombers did not file a flight plan, did not have their transponders switched on and were not talking to air traffic control.