There is really nothing like a good mystery. 

For the past several weeks, readers of the Bega District News have been hooked on our regular Looking Back column, which has been telling a captivating story written many years ago about a man’s discovery of a woman’s body hidden in a box at Twofold Bay.

Although some may dispute whether or not the events took place, as the story slowly unravels every week this historical piece has left readers calling for more, wanting to know extra details about the situation the young man found himself in. 

This week there was a much more recent mystery, one that began when readers looked up. 

On Monday morning, people from across the Bega Valley and beyond saw an unusual sight in our skies. A plane was flying three loops high in the air, leaving behind three clear contrails for everyone to see. 

While a different media organisation reported the RAAF had said it was a CL60 doing exercises en-route from Fairbairn RAAF Base in the ACT to Sale, we could not confirm this information. 

In fact, several aircraft organisations contacted over a couple of days after the plane was seen could not identify it. 

A spokesperson from the Department of Defence said the air force did not have any air assets flying around the Bega region that morning which could have created the circular contrails people saw.

Merimbula Airport was unable to identify it. Airservices Australia, a government owned organisation that manages 11 per cent of the world’s airspace, said Bega was not in controlled airspace so could not identify the aircraft either.

Lastly, a spokesperson for Civil Aviation Safety Authority, a government body that regulates Australian aviation safety, said the organisation does not receive flight plans as they happen so also could not identify it.

When we asked on Facebook if anyone else had seen the contrails left by the plane, we received numerous shots. Some suggested it was an RAAF plane, others suggested it was planes plural, while another mentioned – perhaps a joke – the contrails being chemtrails. 

There were also requests for more information on the flight. Because when we see something unusual we cannot help but want to know what it is, and three frozen loops in the sky is an image that sticks in our minds.