After we published our comprehensive history of The Starship, the Boeing 720 plane used by Led Zeppelin in 1973 and 1975 along with artists including The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Deep Purple and Bob Dylan, we heard from someone who rode on the plane’s final flight from Basel to Luton in 1979.

Gary Winstead worked as the Chief Flight Engineer and Director of Training at Aeroamerica, the company that bought the plane in 1978. He shared his memories of the plane and how he came to be on its final flight before it was broken up for parts at Luton in 1982:

The Starship and I have an interesting history, I guess. I first became aware of her by responding to a friend who was a flight engineer for McCulloch. He told me they were short an A&P flight engineer and go to see Hal McNichol or Jim, I can’t remember last name, in the Santa Monica area.

Well, I was 24 I think and had fresh A&P a flight engineer on Boeing 707 with a total of about 20 hours…LOL. Hal was a nice guy, we connected several years latter when he ran Flight Crews International. Last I heard he was still living north of San Diego. I didn’t get the job. A short time later, my buddy at McCulloch said ‘You need to get here to Long Beach, The Starship is here and they are looking for a flight engineer.’ Didn’t get that job either.

Life goes on. I eventually get hired by Aeroamerica working up the food chain to become the Chief Flight Engineer and Director of Training. I tried to stay in Berlin as much as possible and except for VIP charters or line checks I was successful in staying there.

My log books are all buried in storage now so will have to work from my old 74-year-old brain.

The Starship had come over to Heathrow from Mexico City via Washington DC some time in 1979, as I recall. The flight engineer had to return to the US for something so I positioned to London to finish a trip with a VIP to Cairo and two days later to Oman. As I recall it turned into a Monkey mess.

The aircraft needed an “A” check when we got to Cairo around 2200 that night. I had to stay with the aircraft to supervise the check and sign off on it. It was an all-night deal we finished around sun up.

At this point I am beat to death and looking forward to the day or two off in Cairo. As I enter the lobby, I meet my crew all dressed dragging their suitcases, the Captain says he understands go get a shower and a quick breakfast we will see you at the aircraft the primary wants to go on to Muscat NOW!

I remember the shower and the cab ride back to the airport. The flight is a bit foggy, I slept 13 hours at the Oman hotel. We had three days there and ended up ferrying to Basel. The Captain and first officer headed back to the states and I returned to Berlin.

I can’t remember the timeline but The Starship shows up in Berlin with a VIP trip. The mechanics worked all night but at about 100 knots the number 2 engine compressor stalls. The trip went with another crew and the aircraft positioned back to Basel.

Most of the charters were coming from Basel and I want to say it was Zimex Aviation handling that end, but not sure. I got a SITA message a few weeks later to position to Basel for an undisclosed destination.

I meet up with a crew I had never meet before. The captain informed me we we’re going to Luton for a maintenance check. We dropped the Starship at Luton and I bummed a jumpseat back to Berlin.

Things were spooling down in Berlin quickly in 1979 and we were spread thin for just about everything. At some point before November 1979, I was supposed to pick up the Starship and fly her to Boeing Field.

The short story here is it never happened as the mechanics found too much corrosion in the tail and somewhere else to fly it anywhere.

By January 1980, most of Aeroamerica’s management team from Berlin, including me, had accepted positions to start a new charter airline in Frankfurt, it would be called American Eagle. While in Frankfurt, I had received calls from the head of maintenance at Aeroamerica in Seattle about getting a crew together to fly the Starship home. We never got money up front so that was the end of the story for me.