On Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 5:17:06 PM UTC-7, Nyal Williams wrote:

Thanks for all this discussion! It would be interesting to know who put it there. I've wondered about this ever since it first appeared on here.

That's all covered in that other thread.

TL;DR: The builder died, his family sold the ship and trailer, and the ship went to the dump. Airport owner saw it at the dump and took it away to become yard art at the airport.

--Bob K.