The Starship

The Starship was a Boeing 720B passenger jet leased by the band Led Zeppelin for its 1977 North American concert tour. During the 1972 tour and in the early part of the 1973 tour the band had hired a small private Falon Jet to transport its members from city to city, but these aircaft are comparatively light and susceptible to air turbulence. After performing a show at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco in 1973 the band 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.

The plane 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. Its seating capacity was reduced to forty and the exterior of the plane was re-sprated with Led Zeppelin amblazoned down the side of the fuselage. Inside, the main cabin contained seats and tables, revolving arm chairs, a 30 foot long couch running along the right hand side of the plane opposite the bar, a television set and a video casette player. An electronic organ was also 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, the other a bedroom, complete with a white fur bedspread and shower room.

Flying The Starship Led Zeppelin found that they didn't have 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.

"The Starship" was again used throughout the whole 1975US tour. In 1977, "The Starship" was grounded at Long Beach Airport due to engine problems, so Led Zeppelin were forced to find a comparabale alternative. The band's tour manager Richard Cole eventually chartered Caesar's Chariot, a 45-seat Boeing 707 owned by the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. Caesar's Chariotcrashed in the 1980s while carrying a new set of clients - high-rolling gamblers.

References

Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4.