BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN - THE ROMANIAN 1-11 STORY
By Peter Clark and Richard Church
This story is the most intruiging in the history of the BAC 1-11. How do you go about selling a British built jet airliner in the 1960s to a communist country behind the iron curtain dominated by Russian built Tupolevs, Illyushins and Antonovs!? Well it happened and not only that, Romania agreed to buy the entire UK production line, transport it to Bucharest and build as many as eighty 1-11s under licence. A unique agreement indeed. However all was not well in Romania and the ROMBAC project fell victim to the sweeping changes that took place in the country towards the end of the 1980s. Despite the best efforts of many parties, the production line closed down after only nine airframes had been completed. Over thirty 1-11s served with several airlines and executive operators in the country most notably with national carrier TAROM who formed a unique agreement with BAC / BAe Systems.