Sunday Trivia: The Starship
In honor of mentioning Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden and Astraeus earlier this week, we have a rock band question.
Led Zeppelin and many superstar rock bands of the 1970’s finally made the switch from old propeller aircraft to a genuine jet airliner. In many cases, it was a famous airliner named The Starship which could be leased for band tours and customized to the band’s desires.
Question: What kind of airliner was the Starship and who was the original owner?
The answer after the fold:
The Starship was a Boeing 720 originally owned by United Airlines. In fact, it was the first Boeing 720 ever built and, as such, it was already fairly worn when it was purchased by Contemporary Entertainment in 1973 to use as a band plane. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers all used the aircraft in the 1970s. It can be seen in the movie The Song Remains The Same as the final credits roll.
The aircraft finally ended up in the United Kingdom and was broken up at Luton Airport some time in 1982, a rather short 22 years after its birth.
The Starship (courtesy of Flickr)
I worked on N7201 when I was employed by UAL at SFO. When I returned from lay off in 1974 I learned the 720 fleet was sold, but surprised when Starship was pulled into the Service Center hangar for a routine service check. The name on the acft at that time was olivia Newton John. I always enjoyed flying on 720s and thought they were a great acft. Nobody mentions that the 720 had a door in the floor that gave access to the fwd cargo pit at anytime. This was probably great because the booze and non perishables were stored in the fwd pit.
Thank you for the comment Russ.