The Nome Nugget

Parts Dealer Builds T33 Jet Out Of 30,000 Parts

DALLAS, (AP) - Bob Kamensky of North Hollywood, Calif., has a T33 Shooting Star for sale despite government regulations prohibiting private civilians from owning military jet aircraft.

He built it himself from about 30,000 spare parts picked up during a three-year, international scavenger hunt.

The plane looks so authentic, government inspectors accused him of swiping it when they saw it, he said. Kamensky, a used plane parts broker, said he picked up parts in junk heaps from Alaska to the Sahara Desert.

He got interested in the project when a Chicago banker told him he wanted a jet for his own use. Kamensky knew where he could find a fuselage and a wing in Nevada. The rest he figured would be easy.

But the task, including frustrating chases on false leads and long struggles against government red tape, took him three years and thousands of miles. In Alaska junk heaps, he picked up a landing gear, other vital parts and a case of frostbite.

In Texas, he found a nose for the plane. A glittering object on an Arizona desert turned out to be a T33 canopy. Other parts turned up in Africa, France and Oklahoma. He bought five used engines to provide two good ones.

The banker sold out after putting $130,000 into the venture.

But Kamensky says his craft, despite its fuel consumption of 240 gallons an hour, offers advantages--for instance--a speed of 550 miles an hour.