Rombac "Super One-Eleven", considered a jewel of the local aeronautical industry, by the launch of which the former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu wanted a crowning of the independence of the Romanian industry, is put up for auction on May 27, for the starting price of only 25.000 euros.
In August 1982, the first and only passenger plane built in Romania - ROMBAC 1-11 (or Rombac One-Eleven) was publicly presented, and the first official flight was performed in the autumn of the same year at Băneasa airport, in front of the entire Romanian state leadership. . The inaugural passenger flight of the ROMBAC 1-11 plane took place a year later, in January 1983, on the Bucharest-Timisoara route, and the first external flight of this aircraft was performed in March of the same year on the Bucharest-London route.
Rombac 1-11 aircraft, put up for auction
Thus, Romania became the first communist state in the world, except for the USSR, which produced a jet passenger plane, the engines being manufactured in our country at the Aerofina and Turbomecanica plants, under a Rolls Royce license. The "Super One-Eleven" plane was used for Nicolae Ceausescu's official flights for 4 years, between 1986 and 1989.
Although it was operated for many years, even in difficult flight areas, no aircraft built to Nicolae Ceausescu's command crashed and no passengers died on board. Throughout the history of world aviation, there are very few types of aircraft that have the figure zero in terms of fatal accidents.
Along with the "Super One-Eleven" model that belonged to Nicolae Ceaușescu, the "Negrești" presidential plane, used for the presidential flights during the first term of President Ion Iliescu, is also put up for auction. This plane is the last Rombac 1-11 built in Romania, making the first flight in 1989 and has a starting price of 25.000 euros.
Considering the extreme rarity of these models and the significance of the model for the technical history of Romania, the two planes were classified in the mobile national cultural heritage, the treasure category. The sale has the character of liquidation, the planes being put up for auction within the patrimonial liquidation of the former state enterprise Romavia. The pieces put up for auction on Thursday, May 27, at 18:30, within BIDeand "All-Star Game" organized by artmark, can be viewed starting today either in the online catalog of the auction, on www.artmark.ro, or physically on the platform of Henri Coandă International Airport, inside the Base 90 Otopeni Air Transport "Aviator Commander Gheorghe Bănciulescu".