The Starship
Encyclopedia
The Starship was a former United Airlines
Boeing 720
passenger jet, bought by Bobby Sherman
and his manager, Ward Sylvester
, and leased to touring musical artists in the mid-1970s.
English rock
band Led Zeppelin
used the aircraft for their 1973 and 1975 North American concert tours. During the 1972 tour
and in the early part of the 1973 tour
the band had hired a small private Falcon Jet to transport its members from city to city, but these aircraft are comparatively light and susceptible to turbulence. After performing a show at Kezar Stadium
in San Francisco in 1973 Led Zeppelin encountered bad turbulence on a flight back to Los Angeles
. As a result, the band's manager Peter Grant resolved to hire The Starship for the remainder of the tour, at a cost of $30,000.
The aircraft was the same type as used by commercial airlines, but its owners allowed it to be specifically modified to suit the whim of their clients. Sherman and Sylvester invested $200,000 to reduce its seating capacity to forty and to install into the main cabin a bar, seats and tables, revolving arm chairs, a 30 feet (9.1 m) couch (running along the right hand side of the plane, opposite the bar), a television set and a video cassette player, complete with a well-stocked video library. An electronic organ was built into the bar, and at the rear of the craft were two back rooms, one with a low couch and pillows on the floor, and the other, a bedroom, complete with a white fur bedspread and shower room. The exterior of the plane was re-sprayed with Led Zeppelin emblazoned down the side of the fuselage
.
Flying on The Starship, Led Zeppelin were no longer required to change hotels so often. They could base themselves in large cities such as Chicago
, New York
, Dallas and Los Angeles
and travel to and from concerts within flying distance. After each show, the band members would be transported direct by limousine from the concert venue to the airport, as depicted in the Led Zeppelin concert film
The Song Remains the Same
.
The Starship was used throughout Led Zeppelin's 1975 US concert tour
, this time featuring a different red-and-blue paint scheme with white stars similar to the United States flag, and with a smaller "Led Zeppelin" logo on the fuselage. According to Peter Grant, at one point during this tour Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham
sat in the co-pilot's seat and assisted in flying the plane all the way from New York to Los Angeles.
The Starship is included at the end of "Stairway to Heaven
" on disc 2 of the Led Zeppelin DVD with both its 1973 and 1975 paint schemes.
English rock band Deep Purple
hired The Starship for their 1974 U.S. Tour. They can be seen arriving in the jet with the band's name emblazoned on the jet in the DVD for the infamous California Jam
rock festival, entitled Live in California 74
. In an interview with Circus
magazine in 1974, Deep Purple's Jon Lord
explained: "It's a 707 put together by a firm in L.A. that Sinatra
, Dylan
and The Band
just used and Elton John
uses. It has a lounge, a bedroom, a shower and a study. It's supposed to look as little as a plane as possible."
The Rolling Stones
, The Allman Brothers and Alice Cooper
were Starship clients. Peter Frampton
was the last to charter The Starship in 1976. As early as Alice Cooper's 1974 tour the aircraft was beginning to show signs of engine difficulties, and for Led Zeppelin's 1977 US Tour
, it was permanently grounded at Long Beach Airport
. The band was forced to find a comparable alternative, and tour manager Richard Cole
eventually chartered Caesar's Chariot
, a 45-seat Boeing 707
owned by the Caesars Palace
Hotel in Las Vegas
.
The Starship went through several ownership changes from 1977 through 1979 until it went into storage at Luton Airport. It was dismantled for parts starting in July 1982.
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
Boeing 720
Boeing 720
The Boeing 720 is a four-engine narrow-body short- to medium-range passenger jet airliner. Developed by Boeing in the late 1950s from the Boeing 707, the 720 has a shorter fuselage and less range...
passenger jet, bought by Bobby Sherman
Bobby Sherman
Robert Cabot "Bobby" Sherman, Jr. , is an American singer, actor and occasional songwriter, who became a popular teen idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s.He graduated in 1961 from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California...
and his manager, Ward Sylvester
Ward Sylvester
Ward Sylvester is an American entertainment industry producer, manager, promoter, executive and consultant. He has served as President of Pacific Arts Inc., and Personality Productions; Vice President of Columbia Pictures TV and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
, and leased to touring musical artists in the mid-1970s.
History
The Starship, N7201U (S/N: 17907), was the first Boeing 720 built. It was delivered to United Airlines on October 1960 and then purchased in 1973 by Contemporary Entertainment.English rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
used the aircraft for their 1973 and 1975 North American concert tours. During the 1972 tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1972
Led Zeppelin's 1972 North American Tour was the eighth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into two legs, with performances commencing on May 27 and concluding on June 28, 1972. It included two warm-up shows in Europe....
and in the early part of the 1973 tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1973
Led Zeppelin's 1973 North American Tour was the ninth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into two legs, with performances commencing on May 4 and concluding on July 29, 1973...
the band had hired a small private Falcon Jet to transport its members from city to city, but these aircraft are comparatively light and susceptible to turbulence. After performing a show at Kezar Stadium
Kezar Stadium
Kezar Stadium is a stadium located adjacent to Kezar Pavilion in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. It is the former home of the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, and of the San Francisco Dragons of MLL. It also served as the home of the...
in San Francisco in 1973 Led Zeppelin encountered bad turbulence on a flight back to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. As a result, the band's manager Peter Grant resolved to hire The Starship for the remainder of the tour, at a cost of $30,000.
The aircraft was the same type as used by commercial airlines, but its owners allowed it to be specifically modified to suit the whim of their clients. Sherman and Sylvester invested $200,000 to reduce its seating capacity to forty and to install into the main cabin a bar, seats and tables, revolving arm chairs, a 30 feet (9.1 m) couch (running along the right hand side of the plane, opposite the bar), a television set and a video cassette player, complete with a well-stocked video library. An electronic organ was built into the bar, and at the rear of the craft were two back rooms, one with a low couch and pillows on the floor, and the other, a bedroom, complete with a white fur bedspread and shower room. The exterior of the plane was re-sprayed with Led Zeppelin emblazoned down the side of the fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
.
Flying on The Starship, Led Zeppelin were no longer required to change hotels so often. They could base themselves in large cities such as Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Dallas and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and travel to and from concerts within flying distance. After each show, the band members would be transported direct by limousine from the concert venue to the airport, as depicted in the Led Zeppelin concert film
Concert film
A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
The Song Remains the Same
The Song Remains the Same (film)
The Song Remains the Same is a concert film by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The recording of the film took place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City, during the band's 1973 concert tour of the United States. The film premiered on 20 October 1976, at...
.
The Starship was used throughout Led Zeppelin's 1975 US concert tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1975
Led Zeppelin's 1975 North American Tour was the tenth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into two legs, with performances commencing on January 18 and concluding on March 27, 1975...
, this time featuring a different red-and-blue paint scheme with white stars similar to the United States flag, and with a smaller "Led Zeppelin" logo on the fuselage. According to Peter Grant, at one point during this tour Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
sat in the co-pilot's seat and assisted in flying the plane all the way from New York to Los Angeles.
The Starship is included at the end of "Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
" on disc 2 of the Led Zeppelin DVD with both its 1973 and 1975 paint schemes.
English rock band Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
hired The Starship for their 1974 U.S. Tour. They can be seen arriving in the jet with the band's name emblazoned on the jet in the DVD for the infamous California Jam
California Jam
California Jam, also known as Cal Jam, was a rock music festival concert held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California on April 6, 1974. It was produced by ABC Entertainment, Sandy Feldman, Don Branker and Leonard Stogel...
rock festival, entitled Live in California 74
Live in California 74
Live in California 74 is a live DVD of the first California Jam concert performance from headliner Deep Purple released in 2005. It was recorded and aired live by ABC-TV on 6 April 1974 at the Ontario Speedway near Los Angeles CA...
. In an interview with Circus
Circus (magazine)
Circus was a monthly American magazine devoted to rock music. It was published from 1966 to 2006. In its heyday the magazine had a full-time editorial staff that included some of the biggest names in rock journalism, including Paul Nelson, David Fricke, and Kurt Loder, and rivaled Rolling Stone in...
magazine in 1974, Deep Purple's Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
explained: "It's a 707 put together by a firm in L.A. that Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
just used and Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
uses. It has a lounge, a bedroom, a shower and a study. It's supposed to look as little as a plane as possible."
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Allman Brothers and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
were Starship clients. Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
was the last to charter The Starship in 1976. As early as Alice Cooper's 1974 tour the aircraft was beginning to show signs of engine difficulties, and for Led Zeppelin's 1977 US Tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1977
Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour was the eleventh and final concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into three legs, with performances commencing on 1 April and concluding on 24 July 1977...
, it was permanently grounded at Long Beach Airport
Long Beach Municipal Airport
Long Beach Airport , also known as Daugherty Field, is a city-owned public-use airport located three nautical miles northeast of the central business district of the City of Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It serves Los Angeles and Orange Counties...
. The band was forced to find a comparable alternative, and tour manager Richard Cole
Richard Cole
Richard Cole was heavily involved in the rock music business from the mid-1960s to 2003, and is most famous for being the tour manager of English rock band Led Zeppelin from 1968 to 1980.-Early career:...
eventually chartered Caesar's Chariot
Caesar's Chariot
Caesar's Chariot was a former United Airlines Boeing 707 passenger jet which was chartered by English rock band Led Zeppelin for their 1977 concert tour of North America....
, a 45-seat Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
owned by the Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
Hotel in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
The Starship went through several ownership changes from 1977 through 1979 until it went into storage at Luton Airport. It was dismantled for parts starting in July 1982.