Tulsa Dealer Gets JFK Jr. Plane

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CALDWELL, N.J. (AP) -- Tulsa used-car dealer Jonathan Knoerdel received a bargain, by analysts' standards, in winning the auction for the first airplane owned by John F. Kennedy Jr. The tragedies that have befallen the Kennedy family may have helped keep down bids, officials said.

Auctioneers on Saturday opened bidding for the 1977 Cessna 182Q Skylane at $300,000, but the plane eventually sold for only $120,000, plus $18,000 to the auction firm, The New York Times reported Monday.

The auctioneer said one bidder told him that his wife didn't want him to buy it because of the Kennedy family history.

Kennedy died last year when his single-engine plane …