When Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland welcomed Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu to London, the Romanian leader was at the peak of his international political career. Two months before, Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were received in the White House, also with high honors, by President Jimmy Carter, and other heads of state and government already knew the President of Romania directly.

The visit of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu to Great Britain (June 13-16, 1978) was then commented on in the Western media, and detractors insisted on the reception ceremony of the Romanian guests by Queen Elizabeth II. They criticized the host and said that the queen compromised when she traveled with Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu in the royal carriage. In addition, there were negative assumptions about the interest of the management of the British Aerospace company in signing a license contract with the aim of producing 82 BAC 1-11 aircraft in Romania during 1980-1995. Of them, 40 copies were to be donated by the “Tarom” company, and 42 copies were to be exported by the Bucharest authorities to various markets.

The detractors of Queen Elizabeth II did not take into account in their comments the fact that the sovereign of Great Britain had no right to behave differently towards Romanian guests, and the change of the London protocol can also be considered a decrease in the prestige of the queen. or even an insult to His Majesty. At the same time, the same detractors did not say a word about the high honors with which Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were received by President Richard Nixon (Washington, October 1970), Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (April 1973) and the West German state. President Gustav Heinemann (June 1973). The topic of discussion may be common: the purchase by the Romanian authorities of foreign passenger aircraft and possibly obtaining a license to manufacture an American, Dutch or West German model of the aircraft.

Nicolae Ceausescu knew some details about the factory in Long Beach (California, USA) of the company “McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation”, which he visited on October 15, 1970. There he was presented with a second copy of the new DC-10 aircraft. (long-haul three-engine, ready for the first flight) and medium-haul DC-9 – a similar model of the 50th series, proposed by representatives of the American company in the fall of 1974 for the endowment. “Tarom” company.

Also, the Supreme Leader of the NKR was interested in the terms of licensed production of the Western passenger plane: “VFW-Fokker 614”. During an official visit to the Netherlands (April 10-13, 1973), the hosts allowed Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife to come to the factory of the Dutch company “Fokker”, where they were presented with a Fokker assembly shop. aircraft F28″. The Romanian political leader was interested in the “VFW-Fokker 614” project (which the Dutch implemented together with the German company “Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke”), while the management of the Dutch company wanted to sell several “Fokker F28” passenger planes to the “Tarom” company.

Two and a half months later, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife arrived at the headquarters of the company “Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke” in Bremen and the aircraft factory in the immediate vicinity, where he saw the model “VFW-Fokker 614” (assembled by the Germans) – even during the period of official the visit of the Romanian politician to the Federal Republic of Germany as the President of the State Council (June 26-30, 1973).

The Romanian authorities continued to grope and, after analyzing proposals received in October 1974 from Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, respectively (which proposed the supply of five DC-9 medium courier aircraft of the 50 series and an offset condition in the amount of 5 million dollars), Nicolae Ceausescu decided that only British BAC 1-11 aircraft would be purchased for the Tarom company.

Thus, the visit of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu to Great Britain in June 1978 is part of a series of attempts by the President of Romania to finally obtain a license to manufacture a modern passenger aircraft. However, this idea turned out to be disastrous for Romania, and we provide some explanations for this failure below with the help of the following main “actors”:

– engineer colonel Radu Stan (19.10.1933 – 19.12.2020). Graduated from the Military Technical Academy in Bucharest, Faculty of Mechanics – Aviation Department (specialty in motor aircraft). Director of the foreign trade enterprise – Bucharest National Aeronautical Center (May 4, 1984 – December 14, 1985). Deputy director of export-import of the “Autobuzul” enterprise from Bucharest (15.12.1985 – 01.05.1990);

– adviser, Eng. Mircea Kostescu. In 1985, he held the position of chief engineer 1 in a foreign trade enterprise – the National Aeronautical Center in Bucharest; Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro