Stunned Ipswich and Colchester residents have said they were shocked to see what they thought was a “very low flying passenger plane” swooping over both towns last night.

Oscar Doyle was out on his bike in Sproughton Road in Ipswich at around 7.45pm when he saw what looked like a passenger plane coming straight towards him.

He stopped at the side of the road – fearing he might be about to witness a plane crash – and stood with a pedestrian who was thinking the same thing.

“When it got to it’s closest point to us (roughly above Quentin Close), its altitude was probably only 100-200ft,” he said.

“To our relief it seemed to level off, banked to the left and continued on a direction heading away from the town centre.

“It was quite a nerve-wracking thing to experience, and given the density of houses around us it felt like a potential disaster and loss of life had only narrowly been avoided.”

Now Gareth Palmer from Colchester Garrison has said it is very likely the plane people spotted was an RAF Airbus A400M heading back to the barracks after an exercise.

He referred to a similar flypast last year which saw the same plane swoop over the Woodbridge area.

He said: “In order to ensure military aircrews remain competent and safe to conduct their duties, we must regularly practice low flying.

“However, due to the limited amount of open space with no residential areas in the UK this activity will sometimes require flying near to towns, villages and residential properties.

“Military flying is governed by strict regulations and all aircrew make every effort to limit the impact of flying training and operations on the public.”

People living in and around Colchester were also stunned to see it flying so low.

Susan Harrison said she saw it fly over Manningtree.

Did you see the plane? Let us know in the comments below.