Originally Posted by
El Bunto
I'm not privy to the details of the story, but a Soviet delegation arrived in the mid-80s with an 'interest' in licence-production of the ATP. It all fizzled-out and not long afterwards the Il-114 emerged, which seems to be an ATP with a dose of Soviet ruggedness applied. Later '114s even had the same engines.
Edit: oh good, I didn't imagine the entire thing:
http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%201158.PDF
Ah yes, the Soviet visit! Much time was spent towing the Nimrods to places where they couldn't be seen!
At the time, we did wonder why the delegation were taking all those notes.