What ever happened to…..Ken Ward's collection?

I have heard that some items have found their way to ebay in more recent times. I seem to get some conflicting info though as to where the collection ended up I  was told RAF Leeming more recently but I’m not sure of this. What I don’t understand is why the MoD didn’t just claim it as all their property and confiscate immediately ? Maybe they could not prove he hadn’t bought it all legitimately? Either way the whole sorry saga sounds like an utter mess with no winner the result that possibly the best highground relic collection in UK may just end up split amongst private collections forever never to see the light of day. At least he was amenable to visitors to the collection and to my eternal regret I never took the offer up.

Off the back of all this legitimate legal recoveries are all but dead and no doubt illegal ones  carry on as normal, and so the source of wreckage is constrained a little driving prices higher, great if you are a dealer.

Perhaps a perfect example of how regulation solves nothing. There again it looks like the regulation is largely toothless, so go ahead anyway!

Wow, its sounding more like a cheap horror movie plot than real life. 

“cockpit of a WW2 fighter plane with working machine guns.”
Teenage journalists again?

 

This saga has taken a rather macabre turn.

”Human remains have been discovered at the dilapidated former home of a military historian who was jailed for stalking and possessing an arsenal of illegal weaponry.

Officers arrived on Tuesday at Appletree Cottage in Chop Gate on the edge of the North Yorks Moors national park, the former home of Kenneth Ward, 72.  Police found, amongst a huge haul, a loaded Luger pistol under his pillow and the cockpit of a WW2 fighter plane with working machine guns.” –  Daily Mail online 6/2/22

”A MAJOR police investigation launched when human remains were discovered at a remote cottage has finally drawn to a close.

The joint investigation by North Yorkshire Police and the Ministry of Defence Police has resulted in the remains of two World War II airmen, who crashed down on the North York Moors, being returned to their families.

The probe into the discovery of the human remains and military memorabilia near Chop Gate has concluded without any charges being brought against a 74-year-old man.

The investigation, launched on March 31, 2020, resulted in a large-scale operation involving experts from the RAF and the Army, as well as forensic archaeologists who were able to identify the remains as male and more than half-a-century old.”

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19896379.remains-ww2-airmen-foun…

Would be interesting to see if his collection has gone there. Ken was always a keen attender at the Newark aerojumble.

Having been ‘granted’ the ‘privilege’ of measuring KW’s Valiant cockpit for its ‘migration’ from Newark to north of the border; I would suspect the most likely destination would be Inverness and the Highland Aviation Museum.

Montrose would be a good location and definitely quite a catch for them. They already have a Meteor and Vampire, so that would be a fair bit of redundancy for such a small museum. The Vulcan cockpit and Lightning would do them well! I’m not sure about space as I’ve never been.

Or Montrose, but i doubt they’d have the space either

Re #9, I doubt East Fortune has the space, so that leaves Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum, Morayvia or the Highland Aviation Museum in Inverness.

Interesting to see the photos of the cockpits in the farmers field, hopefully they will get a good scrub down.
Great to see that Ken’s collection may have finally found a new (and dry) home.

Many thanks for the gen!

Thanks Newforest for the link, this provides some update, great photos of the cockpits especially the Meteor nightfighter in the farmers barn. Hopefully the cockpits wil get a good clean up, according to the news article (albeit some months old) it looks like the collection may go to a permanent home in a Scottish museum, anyone know which one?

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/fighter-planes-cows-company-now-12916221

And here is a more update news item about the Skylive Airshow at Duham Tees Valley airport last year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/collecting-ghosts-in-an-aircraft-graveyard-1580601.html

Ken Ward, not a name I could immediately connect with, so for others similarly brain challenged, here is a potted history, although slightly outdated.

Ken Ward appears to have dropped off the radar since finding himself in hot water. He was always a regular at the aerojumbles, has anyone seen him recently? As stated above the last I publically heard was that he was going to partner up with Bomphoons to create a museum to properly display his unique collection, not sure if this ever materialised or not. He also did have a number of cockpits dotted around the country including a Victor and Vulcan not to mention a few others.

I’d love to be able to measure up the FN25 dustbin turret for my 3D model – I had to make do with the Leigh Light at the RAF museum which they kindly let me measure.

Cheers
James

Thanks Ian, I wonder if its still there!
TT

According to this March 2017 article, the items were relocated to Faldingworth;

goo.gl/RnJ2BM

But after a “wealthy” friend offered to house him at Faldingworth Base in Lincolnshire, Ward dropped that part of his appeal.

The friend had also offered to store Ward’s collection of aircraft memorabilia in hangers at his property, said Mr Cahill.

Do I recall Bomphons trying to remortgage his house to build a museum for it ?