Oval orange light in night sky

Hovering to the east of my position,then travelled west over Bramhope at about 3000 ft and about 300mph and went out of sight in the direction of Ilkley. I saw it again at 2320 on 04.06.2012 when it was hovering to the east in the same position as before, but this time it went vertically upwards until out of sight.Both sightings were completely silent, which is what aroused my curiosity.

Both times seen when walking the dog before retiring. The second sighting was also seen by a family walking home from a village function who thought it was "A lantern in the sky". On both occasions what caught my attention was that the motion both horizontal and vertical was absolutely silent. We live about 2 miles from Leeds/Bradford airport, and are familiar with the sight and sound of normal aircraft movements,and I served in the RAF some years ago. Each sighting lasted about four minutes, and I watched the light grow smaller until the object disappeared.