AN RAF aircraft was spotted flying over Teesside Airport yesterday, and caused quite a stir on social media, prompting the question, what was it doing? And where was it going?

An RAF spokesperson confirmed: "A c-17 Globemaster from RAF Brize Norton completed a practice diversion and circuits during a routine operational training sortie at Teesside Airport yesterday.

"The RAF utilises civilian airports across the UK in order to offer unusual airspace for our crews to train in, ensuring we remain ready and able to deploy on global operations."

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A member of the Echo's Camera Club, Andy Gibson, captured the image and Facebook users comments included:

"Been over Durham at least twice this week"

"I saw this when flying my drone! Had to land…."

"Flew over Durham yesterday"

"Seen it fly over Consett yesterday about 2:15pm"

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