YOU may have spotted a huge military plane in the sky above St Helens this morning, Thursday

An Airbus A400M Atlas was visible flying at low altitude over the town and surrounding areas at around 10.30am.

The Royal Air Force aircraft, which uses four propeller engines, took off from RAF Brize Norton near Oxford at around 9.30am before flying west towards Cheltenham, according to FlightRadar24.

It then began to fly north past Coventry, Leicester and Derby, before again flying west just after Manchester.

It then banked over St Helens, Warrington and Runcorn at low altitude, as well as Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Afterwards, it carried on over Liverpool and then the Pennines towards Newcastle Airport, landing at 11.20am.

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This is not the first time such military planes have been seen flying low in the area.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence previously confirmed that planes fly over the area as part of a training exercise.

They said: “A Royal Air Force Atlas A400M aircraft from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire was completing routine training around the Liverpool area.

“The RAF uses a variety of locations around the UK for training.

“They provide complex airspace and differing challenges for our pilots to ensure we remain ready and able to deploy on global operations.”