Private Plane

"**Private Plane**"
"Private Plane"
Adrian Edmondson; Hugo Blick
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Major Star"	Next →; "General Hospital"
	List of episodes

"Private Plane", or "Plan D: Private Plane", is the fourth episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder.

Plot

The episode begins with an ongoing artillery attack that is disturbing

Bob

, he offers George a place in the Flying Corps. Initially uninterested, Blackadder is more agreeable when he learns of the "Twenty Minuters" squadron, so named because new pilots only spend twenty minutes in the air.

At Staff HQ, Blackadder tries to join the Flying Corps;

General Melchett allows the transfer. At basic training the next day, Blackadder learns that the flight instructor is Flashheart, and that the actual reason for the name "Twenty Minuters" is because the twenty minutes is the life expectancy of a new pilot. Darling at this point assures Blackadder that he will be fine as long as he has a good navigator

. However, much to Darling's glee, the navigator is Baldrick.

Shortly after take off, both Blackadder and Baldrick are shot down by a German plane and captured by Baron von Richthofen, who wants to learn the subtleties of British humour. He informs them of their fate, which entails teaching home economics to young German girls in a convent outside Heidelberg, which the Baron thinks will be a "fate worse than death to a British soldier"; Blackadder feigns sorrow, but he is, of course, overjoyed.

George, in the meantime, attempts to rescue Blackadder with the help of Darling and Melchett, but is informed that it would be "pointless". He is shown a life size model of the land they have recaptured, measuring seventeen square feet. He is more successful in recruiting Lord Flashheart, who swiftly rescues Blackadder and Baldrick. Blackadder tries to stall them claiming he has "splintered [his] pancreas", but Flashheart is not fooled and forces Blackadder out the door. At that moment, Richthofen appears and confronts Flashheart, comparing the nobility and majesty of their calling. In response, Flashheart shoots von Richthofen and calls him a "poof".

Back at HQ, Blackadder confronts the cowardly Darling who as he steps backwards finds that Flashheart is standing behind him. Flashheart then headbutts Darling into unconsciousness onto his desk to get back at him for not rescuing them sooner. He then leaves, advising Blackadder "If you want something, take it" (a principle he demonstrates with Bob). Melchett appears, at which point Blackadder asks for some time off to recuperate. Melchett agrees, stating that Blackadder's commanding officer would have to be "mad" to refuse. However, when Blackadder reminds Melchett that he is Blackadder's commanding officer and asks if he can have a week's leave to recuperate, Melchett replies "Certainly not", refusing Blackadder's request.

References

^ "Rik Mayall, star of The Young Ones, dies aged 56". BBC News. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.

External links

"Private Plane" at BBC Online
"Private Plane" at
IMDb

[BBC-1] "Rik Mayall, star of The Young Ones, dies aged 56". BBC News. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.