'Kingdom' ITV last night.

.. what was the point of making that statement

I don’t recall seeing any F-15’s

Just that. The EDP is never very accurate. This is a case in point.

Moggy

The EDP is not known for the accuracy of its reporting nor the quality of its ‘journalists’. That report is just about up to par.

Moggy

Wierd, what was the point of making that statement, I don’t recall seeing any F-15’s and the cockpit shots were clearly from a Tornado, they must have been junked as unsuitable.

The EDP is not known for the accuracy of its reporting nor the quality of its ‘journalists’. That report is just about up to par.

Moggy

I think he may have been disappointed. I don’t recall seeing any F15 footage, only the F16, Tornado already referred to.

John

Kingdom ITV last night

Now we know how it was done. From edp24.co.uk

PETER STEWARD

31 January 2008 08:30

Thousands of Norfolk people will have watched the latest edition of the comedy drama Kingdom which featured low-flying aircraft over the county.

But one man watching particularly closely was Keith Whiddett, who was in on a production trade secret.

When a television production company wanted to film low- flying aircraft for the present series of Kingdom, it turned to his skills as a model aircraft maker.

For the episode shown on Sunday, Kingdom Productions, which makes the Norfolk-based drama series starring Stephen Fry as a country solicitor, wanted to show low-flying aircraft proving a menace to one of the local residents. Using real aircraft would have been too dangerous, so they turned to Mr Whiddett, who is a member of both the Norwich and Bury St Edmunds Model Aero Clubs.

The result was a six-hour shoot for Mr Whiddett and a friend at Little Snoring Airfield featuring two model F15s, with Mr Whiddett using all his “piloting” skills to make the radio- controlled models bank and dip to look as if they were “buzzing” property. The footage was later mixed with a town scene to give the impression of low-flying aircraft over houses.

Mr Whiddett, who lives in the Three Score area of Bowthorpe, said: “The production company approached a Norwich model shop and they put them on to me. Originally they wanted Tornadoes but they aren’t made as flying models. I had a pair of F15s available and they agreed to use them.”

The filming involved some highly skilful precision shooting with the massive models which are one-tenth the scale of the real thing and are two metres long and 1.7 metres wide.

“They wanted me to fly directly at the camera at head height before pulling up and shooting over it. We got as close as we could, but it was a tricky manoeuvre. The models are large and weigh 22lb each. We couldn’t afford to make any mistakes,” added Mr Whiddett.

As well as his F15, Mr Whiddett has a model Mirage, an F86 and two sports aerobatic planes. He is building a Red Arrows Hawk and a Tristar.

“I have flown model planes from a child when I moved on from paper ones to balsa wood models. When I started working and earning money, I moved on to radio-controlled models. It is the closest I will probably get to being in the real thing. The sound, the power, the smell is great. The models are powered by real jet engines and they burn jet fuel and can reach speeds of up to 220mph. It is just the thrill of having all that speed and power under your control” he said.

:rolleyes: It’s a typical ITV Sunday no thinking to stress you out type programme to follow in the footsteps of Heartbeat,The Royal and that awful tripe about living in Africa [i think as i don’t watch it].Lets face it most the story lines in those “time filling ” pieces of brain numbing rubbish could’ve been thought up by almost anyone.
I did see the Tornado/F16 footage and also noticed that Stephen Fry was part of the production team as well,which may explain why he opted to be in it..

One plus point, a lot of the filming is done inside ‘The Greyhound’ in Swaffham, did anyone have the wonderful experience of going in there a few years ago during the saturday morning auctions outside, one of lifes great moments. First try and work out what the auctioneer was talking about, then try and work out what the ‘Good old Boys’ were actually buying, then risk your life for a pint in the Greyhound, real sawdust on the floor, a landlord who had been sampling the contents of the optics, and the chance of a good kicking amongst the locals, and lots of low flying too, even on a saturday. Apparently sawdust on the floor of a pub contravenes ‘Health and Safety’ regs these days, give me strength, I can’t imagine any of the combatents worrying about that.

The grunts have been known to call the real base as “Lakengrief”

I think the fact they had 148th Fighter Wing on the signboard is a pretty clear indication what the base in the programme was modelled on. (48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath)

Also don’t forget that Fakenham is close to where the filming is based.

Moggy

Did anyone else note the name on the USAF base entrance RAF Fakenheath – surely not an unintentional pun?

Even my wife spotted that the aircraft kept switching between types…before I’d even commented. Still some good low level in-cockpit Tornado shots, and some good shots of Tonkas operating out of Marham…and some nice North Norfolk scenery, there are worse ways to waste an hour on a Sunday evening.

Paul F

The film company have used Little Snoring Airfield a couple of times. The first episode, about the brothers competing with each other in the burger vans, was shot on the peri-track.

It is a shame about this series, on paper it sounds good, (location, characters etc), however in reality have to agree with pagen01 it aint great.

Still they have chucked a couple of quid the clubs way each time they use the airfield, so perhaps shouldn’t complain.

This is the first episode that I have tried watching, I thought it was absolutely dire, both from the aviation point of view (understandable perhaps), but also from the the story line point of view.
Im surprised Stephan Fry and Celia Imrie have even signed up to it

Well, as soon as the first F16 powered across the screen you just had to say to yourself – this isn’t an aviation programme.

I think the US serviceman was meant to be an echo back to the “Overpaid, over ….” thing of the 1940s in East Anglia, rather than a slight on the RAF.

Moggy