Intriguing smoke trail and "aircraft"
The evening before last as I was getting off my train, I overheard two chaps say "well if it's a firework then it's a hell of a one". I looked up and saw a large smoke trail in the distance, heading up at an angle between 35 and 45 degrees. Scanning to the end of it, I could see an object not unlike an aircraft travelling at what looked like reasonable speed and with a flashing light at the tip. The odd part was as I walked over the bridge I could see towards the start of the smoke trail - and it had begun vertically, for maybe 1000ft, then speared off at an angle.
This was in a semi-urban/suburban area (east of London - I was in Upminster and I was looking towards central London). By the time I'd reached my car five minutes later, it was still flying, still heading upwards at the same angle, out towards the coast.
Any idea what I might have seen? The only thing I can think of that launches like that is a missile, but we don't get a lot of those in Essex :-)