DECADES BEFORE Oasis famously helicoptered onto the field at Knebworth and long before the Gulfstream G5 became the most name-checked jet in hip-hop, there was the Starship, the decadently tricked-out, constantly re-liveried Boeing 720 jumbo jet that acted as a flying tour bus for some of the biggest bands of the mid-1970s, including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, the Bee Gees, Alice Cooper and Peter Frampton.
In 1973, teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman and his manager, Ward Sylvester, bought the first Boeing 720 ever produced (in 1960) for $600,000 from United Airlines, then spent an additional $200,000—$1.3 million in today's currencyconverting the interior. Seating dropped from 138 to 40, while new shagadelic amenities included a 30-foot-long brass-edged bar, an electric fireplace in the “drawing room,” a king-sized waterbed and…