Could be military jets breaking the sound barrier. When I was a kid a group of Air Force fighters set a new speed record for a round trip west coast to east coast and back. They refueled over New York and then broke the sound barrier after refueling. The sonic boom made a sound in my house on Staten Island that made us all thing the roof had collapsed.
thing = think
One of my favorite memories from childhood! My sister and I LOVED sonic booms!