Presidential planes used by Ceausescu and Iliescu, put up for auction

Nicolae Ceausescu's presidential plane - Rombac "Super One-Eleven", will be put up for sale at a starting price of 25,000 euros, on May 27, at the "All star game" elegance auction organized by Artmark, agerpres reports.

According to Artmark, in August 1982, the first and only passenger plane built in Romania - ROMBAC 1-11 or Rombac One-Eleven was presented publicly, and its first official flight took place in the autumn of the same year at Baneasa 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 overseas flight of this aircraft was carried out in March of the same year on the Bucharest-London route. 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 Romania, at the Aerofina and Turbomecanica plants, under a Rolls Royce license.

The "Super One-Eleven" aircraft, put up for auction, was used for Nicolae Ceausescu's official flights for 4 years, between 1986 and 1989.

The "Negresti" presidential plane, used for presidential flights during the first term of President Ion Iliescu, will also be put up for auction. This plane is the last Rombac 1-11 built in Romania, with its maiden flight in 1989, and has a starting price of 25,000 euros.

Artmark shows that the two planes were ranked in the mobile national cultural patrimony, the treasure category, and the sale has the character of liquidation, being put up for auction within the patrimonial liquidation of the former state enterprise Romavia. They can be viewed starting Wednesday either in the online catalog of the auction, on www.artmark.ro, or physically on the platform of Henri Coanda International Airport, inside the "Aviator Commander Gheorghe Banciulescu" 90th Air Transport Base Otopeni. Access and viewing are performed, taking into account the special legal regime of the perimeter of the storage and exposure location, based on prior appointment.

The Paykan Hillman-Hunter limousine, 1974, from Nicolae Ceausescu's collection, received by him from Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on the occasion of his election as president of Socialist Republic of Romania, will also be put up for sale at a starting price of 4,000 euros. The batch is accompanied by an authenticity certificate.

The auction includes over 160 items, and among the best listed are: a white gold ring decorated with a pear-shaped central diamond, surrounded by diamonds, at a starting price of 40,000 euros, a Franck Muller Double Mistery wristwatch, adorned with diamonds and rubies, for 20,000 euros, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch for 15,000 euros and a Ulysse Nardin Freak Tourbillion watch for 11,000 euros.