The all-composite airframe Starship was the first civilian airplane to make wide-ranging use of composite materials. Raytheon made a significant investment in the development of the plane, putting it into service in the late 1980s. Bert Rutan participated in the aircraft’s futuristic design, which featured push-type turboprops and canard wings among its many innovations. However, it enjoyed limited commercial success and Raytheon decommissioned the entire Starship fleet in 2003. It donated a limited number of the planes to museums, making its first donation to the Kansas Aviation Museum. Our Starship was flown to the museum from Rockford, Ill., in August 2003.