100,000 Subscriber Special; The Elbonian Air Force

[@CecilHabermacher]

If you're interested in a Bf-109 for the fighter, might I suggest the Avia S-199 variant? A Bf-109 with the engines and propeller from an He-111. Lots of torque, narrow-track landing gear, poor engine responsiveness, *and* the parts are just different enough from the stock 109 or 111 that replacement parts are hard to come by. The infant Israeli air force managed to acquire 25 of them, but weren't able to get more than 5 flight ready at any given time.

[@dexexmachinatu4151]

It can even shoot its propeller off.

[@geodkyt]

*If* you can sell the He177, remember it was *also* a dive bomber, and thus could be used in multiple roles, including CAS (because "dive bomber"). At least until the wings fall off.

[@shaider1982]

Small arms as recommended by their special advisor, Ian Mcollum🤣👍🏻

[@BumroyV2]

I think the G4M Betty would be a good pick as a medium bomber. It would add logistics issues with Japanese equipment, and the lack of armor would cremate the crew. But, with Japan's disarmament, they're available cheap, and have plenty of accolades to sell them: long range, sunk British battleships, served through the whole war, etc.

[@Alobo075]

Favorite comment. "But hey it's the Finns, they managed to make the Brewster Buffalo look good..."

[@olivergs9840]

I was really hoping to see the Avia S-199 being selected as the heavy fighter. Made of good bits of proven aircraft, being built new, and soon to see legendary service. Of course we don't say that it's an absolute mongrel of a fighter, being tricky to take off, uncomfortable to fly, and with more of its own propeller blades being shot off than a 1915 fighter

[@andrewrobinson5837]

Congratulations! What a fantastic achievement.

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

Thank you so much!

[@FirstDagger]

He 177 is the perfect pick for heavy bomber. It looks the part, has the stats of heavy bomber, you can sell it as heavy dive bomber and anti-ship plane and the engines will just ruin the entire logistic chain.

[@brucermarino]

🎉CONGRATULATIONS! As long as my Elbonian taxes don't increase with all these weapons purchases. Thanks for so much excellent research combined with great presentation!

[@pommunist]

Medium bomber the CASA 2.111 - the Spanish Merlin engine Heinkel He 111 that was still in service well into the late 1960s

[@rejs7]

Great achievement. Would love to see you and Rex's Hanger team up on this. Elbonia needs a serious dose of French aeronautical might circa 1940.

[@fredbecker607]

Gun Jesus has the small arms covered.

[@Breznak]

Congratulations! Also I'd like sugest a jet fighter: the Me-262. Though it wasn't a bad aircraft and it was fairly modern in 1945, the engines would be a huge financial drain on the EAF. We did assemble some of them here in Czechoslovakia after the war as S-92 and there were crashes too.

[@Decrepit_biker]

FOR THE GLORY OF THE COUSIN LAND! GLORY TO ELBONIA!!! Also congratulations on the sub milestone. 😊

[@johnstirling6597]

If you acquired the c-82 you always have the option to modify the airframe to a troop transport , a-la the Flight of the Phoenix. No concessions to comfort for the brave Elbonian troops!

[@MisterApol]

OK, my choices: Observation, BV 141; Transport, Junkers 352; Recon, Heinkel 46; Torpedo Bomber, Reggiane Re 2002, Anti Sub, Focke Wulf FW200; Ground Attack, Henschel Hs129A; Medium Bomber, Mitsubishi Ki. 21; Heavy bomber, Avro Manchester; Heavy Fighter, Messerschmitt Me.210; Fighter, Bell P59!

[@vladimirputin8707]

Congratulations, Edd! Your videos are brilliant 👏

[@TheArmourersBench]

Congratulations mate

[@molochi]

Gratz on100k! For fighhter I'd go with a Bell, but the P-59B I think. Shiny and with an ubfulfilled full order, but slow and very expensive to maintain.

[@salty4496]

Congratulations Ed. Onwards and upwards :)

[@FinsburyPhil]

Well done Ed - much deserved.

[@CanalTremocos]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="100">1:40</a> This is my first thought for an invincible airforce. There has to be a way to get turreted MiG-15.

[@toda304]

Congratulations Ed! Your videos are brilliant Thanks for your Great Videos

[@richardbennett8522]

Well Done Ed on 100k subscribers

[@alasseon99]

Congrats! Your videos are good and you are well-spoken person, completely deserved success!

[@FAMUCHOLLY]

Happy 100K Ed! I love your content sir... THANKS!!!

[@Cartoonman154]

Congratulations. The same Elbonia in Dilbert. The number 1 exporter of Mud.

[@dapprman]

It's where Elbonia came from ;)

[@Cartoonman154]

@@dapprman Thought so.

[@death13820]

Ian is smiling . Congratulations Ed.!

[@mattheweagles5123]

Congratulations! How about the ME262? Looks good, fast and exciting jet technology. Just don't mention the reliability and the huge expense of replacing engines every other flight.

[@moblinmajorgeneral]

Unfortunately, Elbonia could eventually get replacement engines from the Soviets, because the Soviets used the Jumo 004 in the Yak-15 and Su-9, and the build quality was substantially better, though that probably says a lot more about Axis desperation than Soviet quality control

[@mattheweagles5123]

@moblinmajorgeneral perhaps not knowledge that the Elbonian Minister would have in 1945, but a good point.

[@treszenrv9401]

I think that moving to Swiss at the time to negotiate some armament is a pretty good idea in order to find a safe place for some gold bar or art pieces.

[@jurgmesser7723]

And of course in case a war breaks out, the swiss government would immediately stop exporting their ammunition to Elbonia!

[@Gamecourie]

Congratulations Ed, you deserve it.

[@tiikkifi]

Trainers are important. Way too complex basic trainer, then specialist training aircraft with totally different characteristics and handling than the operational aircraft has. Like Soviet trainer for fighters if the fighters are from USA...

[@rojaunjames747]

CONGRATS ON A 100K SUBS!!!🎉🎉

[@majorbloodnok6659]

On a positive / multi-tasking note; ex-Buccaneer canopies were discovered, still in use as garden cloches, in Yorkshire in the 1980s would that help to sell them to the Elbnians?

[@GARDENER42]

Question: How do you build airfields on 10' of mud?

[@chashouse8511]

Well done on reaching the subscriber milestone! Brilliantly hilarious video well done sir!! And all the seasons pleasantries to you and yours.

[@swenic]

100k is so underrated, anyways, thank you for great content!

[@Oliver6163]

I'm kind of surprised you did not consider the Me 210/410 in the heavy fighter role - mediocre performance at best, an outdated design with fatal flaws, and of course the terrible build quality

[@johndell3642]

Congrats on getting to 100,000! Now for 200,000! Merry Christmas!

[@luvr381]

Fantastic, and well deserved, Ed!! This was so good it actually made me feel evil, and bad for the notional Elbonians.

[@alancranford3398]

I'd vote for the Ryan FR Fireball. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_FR_Fireball One issue is that the initial American jet engines were lucky to last eight flight hours between overhauls. The 1044 cancelled Fireballs could be made for the Elbonian Air Force.

[@adrianrutterford762]

Congratulations! Have a wonderful festive season.

[@dnixon8767]

Congratulations on achieving 100k!

[@farfromreal]

Congrats! Much deserved and still hugely unappreciated.

[@anvil5356]

The Elbonian Flag has a Buffalo on it, so it's obvious that they would love a Brewster F2A Buffalo. It wasn't the greatest fighter at the start of the war and was completely outclassed by the end of it. The Finish air force were still flying them in 1948, so there would have been at least a few about.

[@kevinbaird9763]

Congrats Ed, Well deserved!

[@citynomad13]

Caproni Ca.313 was still in service with Swedish Airforce in 1945.

[@falloutghoul1]

Happy Holidays, Ed!

[@TollHammer]

Way to go Ed, Onwards!

[@bobthenog]

B-29s for maritime patrol and ASW would be... interesting, especially with the engine overheating issues and large amount of maintenance needed. also congrats on the 100k!!

[@GARDENER42]

About bloody time too. Congratulations mate.

[@juk-hw5lv]

I think the Shcherbakov Shch-2 would make a good case for an Elbonian transport aircraft. It was a glider fitted with two puny M-11 5 cylinder radials from the Po-2. Soviet pilots who were more or less tolerant of airplanes considered crap by other nations' standards considered it barely flyable

[@jlvfr]

Congratulations! Well deserved.

[@nonamesplease6288]

Congratulations, Ed. Well done! I think the only thing you haven't taken into account is that Elbonia in its entirety is permanently under 3 1/2 feet of water. Elbonia definitely needs a seaplane or a flying boat. Since this is a permanent need, you should add it as a category. There were plenty of good (or bad) surplus models available at the end of WWII as you've shown. The challenge will be acquiring seaplane for the future. Now, all rise for the Elbonian national anthem, "My Golden Elbonia, Land of the Noble Waterbuffalo".

[@hydrolox3953]

My fighter pick would have been the Me-262. It goes fast and high, but its a maintenance nightmare, if you throttle up too quickly, the engines start burning, and at altitude it takes a very long time to accelllerate.

[@Squad23jta]

Congratulations Ed.

[@PetesGuide]

When you decide to move past 1945 in this wonderful endeavor, please find a way to cover the F-104. I really want to see what you do with the rocket-launched version, plus how you can sabotage its capabilities and usefulness beyond what happened in reality. 😐

[@DaiElsan]

Keep the videos coming. Onwards to 200k subs.👍

[@mathewkelly9968]

Gee 1945 is tough to pick some 'bad' aircraft still in service

[@XNOGaming_One]

The Blohm & Voss Bv 141 looks as if it was developed under the influence of Panzerschokolade.

[@henkormel5610]

The Me 109 wasn't a problem to buy but the engines were. Israël bought several from the Balkans with Jumo engines. It was a dog to fly.

[@olivergs9840]

I was surprised that the Il-20 wasn't in the running for a ground attack aircraft, as I feel the Seamew's armoured lookalike would be perfect for wowing the Elbonian officers, and making their pilots and ground crews utterly miserable

[@john_smithchiropractor3931]

Love learning about these little known treasures you seem to find. Merry Christmas Ed!!

[@Joewho99]

Excellent video thanks for all your uploads over the years .

[@davidsmithson9236]

Merry Christmas, Ed.

[@rockyraab8290]

Congratulations. Really enjoy your channel. That was a very clever and fiendish selection.

[@williambird9256]

Great story. Happy Christmas, Ed

[@Rom3_29]

Ed. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work. Merry Christmas. The land of Bulvania ~ Elbonia

[@Ob1sdarkside]

Well deserved! Quality content. Happy Christmas!

[@Retrograde.Renegade]

ALL HAIL THE FREE CITIZEN’S REPUBLIC OF ELBONIA! In all seriousness, congratulations! That is quite an achievement! Keep up the excellent work!

[@Buconoir]

Just remembered to like and subscribe. Cheers!

[@liamperry7095]

Congratulations Ed, much deserved. But we're still waiting for your 2nd book 😁

[@bpora01]

Bring on the 100k plaque

[@Aelxi]

Long time coming sir congrats!

[@hmmjedi]

Congratulations and thank you for these great videos... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and here is to 2025...

[@themostbestwizard]

The Fairy Barracuda is a better choice than you realize... It literally put its pilots to sleep.

[@moblinmajorgeneral]

Was it even better at it than the Hawker Typhoon?

[@LenTexDIY]

Congratulations!!!

[@geodkyt]

Transport aircraft - C-46. *On paper* the C-46 is a great military transport aircraft. Also, paratroop doors on both sides of the aircraft mean you can drop twice as many paratroopers in the same length of DZ per pass. However, as the US found in Operation Varsity, they were death traps in contested or defended airspace. Which is an issue if you're trying to use it as a paratroop delivery plane. They are also (according to discussions with warbird pilots) one of the more difficult types of its class and age to taxi, take off, and land.

[@gryph01]

Congratulations on 100K!

[@SueBobChicVid]

Thanks for making great videos.

[@kirkmorrison6131]

Congratulations on reaching 100,000 subs!

[@gregdrew874]

100k ?? Hurray for us ! Thanks for the Avenues, Ed.

[@Lensman864]

Congratulations! I've been here since the nearly the beginning and I've always found your work interesting and entertaining.

[@donjones4719]

There can never be enough videos on arming Elbonia. I'm so glad you pitched in. Maybe the next challenge will be rearming Elbonia when the government realizes they've been betrayed. The problem this time is the loyal head of the committee is a young and overly enthusiastic about the new jets. Which are the worst he could wrongheadedly choose?

[@jeffbrooke4892]

That was fun and congrats on the subscribers!

[@SilentSAM-xv5zv]

Congrats Ed ! Merry Christmas and a Happy 2025

[@HeadPack]

Well deserved 100k. Was particularly curious about your pick for the best air inferiority fighter.

[@90lancaster]

B&V aircraft have an additional aspect to them.. they have 'Meme-Magic'.

[@rogerkay8603]

Our pleasure Ed!

[@demos113]

This is the way. 😃👍

[@williamspencer1978]

Huge congratulations to one of my favorite KZbinrs!

[@ziggurat-builder8755]

You deserve it mate!

[@MrDino1953]

Good list, so now you have 100,001 subscribers.

[@stormjensen1]

Congrats and thanks for the quality content. The pleasure is all ours.

[@skylongskylong1982]

You deserve it mate.

[@awp1012]

Congratulations!

[@OntarioRimrunner]

Congratulations on achieving 100,000 subscribers via an amazing set of videos on a wide variety of topics.

[@y00t00b3r]

I thought Elbonia was land locked?!?

[@migueldelacruz4799]

Which is exactly why they need torpedoes and maritime patrol! They need them for their rivers and lakes.

[@AnzelmK]

I think that Il-2 is a great idea for Elbonian AF. Especially ones with ersatz wooden wings. With those air-frames already gone throw hell of eastern front, they have tops a year or two of service in them before they literally rot away.

[@Thermopylae2007]

All this Elboniaphobic talk grates my soul! I pray that they uncover this perfidious traitor before these purchases are made!

[@kfeltenberger]

Congrats, Ed! I’m surprised you didn’t go for any of the Italian fighters or Romanian designs.