PLANES which hurtle over houses and drown out birdsong are angering residents, who have demanded that pilots fly elsewhere.

Trainee pilots from Oxford University Air Squadron and 6 Air Experience Flight, which lodge at RAF Benson, are driving residents in and around Abingdon to despair.

Sutton Courtenay resident Pauline Wilson described the incessant buzzing as a "nuisance".

The retired professor said: "I'm not at all against flying, my family in fact has a proud RAF history, but there are plenty of fields around.

"When you're trying to read or write you can't concentrate because of this racket.

"The sound penetrates indoors, even with closed, double glazed windows, to the extent that one cannot conduct conversations or hear radios or televisions until they have passed.

"I don't want to stop people flying but not every time it's sunny."

She worried it was dangerous to fly over residential areas, referring to a plane crash in the village in 2009 which killed an air cadet and an RAF reservist.

They were practising aerobatics in a plane model called the Grob 115E Tutor - the same flown by students today.

Arthur Dawkins, also from Abingdon, said the problem had become more noticeable in the past year.

The 63-year-old said: "It’s a problem for Sutton Courtenay and the allied villages and in Abingdon. In manoeuvring you hear them much more. It’s more or less every day.

"I’ve monitored the planes flying out on a computer app and there are about three aircraft flying out several times a day.

"Performing aerobatics over built up areas is not without dangers to the people underneath."

The former Ministry of Defence employee urged pilots to have more consideration.

He said: "The problem is where they fly out to. They change altitudes and do turns, practising manoeuvres which create more noise. They’ve got to train but over non-residential areas. There’s plenty of Oxfordshire away from built-up areas."

Robert George, who also lives in Abingdon, suspected the flights had become more frequent, or that they were using nosier models. He noted instances of planes "climbing straight up and plummeting down again over built-up areas."

But Abingdon resident David Coates said he didn't mind.

He said: "If we want to top up our ever diminishing defences the pilots will need to be trained. I think that we should feel lucky that training is being carried out."

Simon Paterson, station commander at RAF Benson, said the flights were "in line with the Government’s initiative to increase opportunities for young people".

He added: "The majority of flights are very short in duration and as such there is a limited distance that they can travel from the airfield. Oxfordshire is also a very busy airspace to operate in, which further reduces the areas of safe operation that are available to pilots.

"While the location of flights is as varied as possible to reduce the impact on the local community, some local areas will see a higher concentration of flights than others.

"We understand that the aerobatics performed by the aircraft are of particular concern. However any aerobatic manoeuvres are completed at no less than 3,000 feet above ground level, are never performed directly over residential areas and are completed with a qualified and experienced pilot who retains full control."