Patuxent River Naval Air Museum - Lexington Park MD
N 38° 16.591 W 076° 27.785
18S E 372025 N 4237508
A building which served as an USO Canteen at the end of WWII now houses a naval aviation museum.
Waymark Code: WMDNKZ
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 02/05/2012
Views: 4
A sign at the entrance to the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park, Maryland reads:
PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR MUSEUM
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND
The Museum is the vision of a group of Navy and civilian personnel who in 1974 set out to formally organize a museum to preserve and celebrate the history of the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River.
They received support from the community, the county, and the State, and in 1978 the Naval Air Test & Evaluation Museum opened in a building on grounds provided by the Naval Air Station. The building was originally built as the USO Canteen toward the end of World War II.
In 1992, the Secretary of the Navy designated the Museum as one of the ten official Navy museums.
In 1997, the Museum's name was changed to the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum to reflect its new mission of preserving and interpreting the research, development, testing & evaluation of naval aircraft and their related systems.
The Museum is the repository for all of the artifacts, photographs & film, documents and other heritage memorabilia from Patuxent River, and other stations, such as Warminster, Pennsylvania, and Trenton, New Jersey, now all consolidated at Patuxent River under the Naval Air Systems Command and the Naval Air Warfare Command Aircraft Division.
The aircraft on the Museum grounds are representative of the aircraft developed for the Navy and actually tested at Patuxent River.
The Museum is dedicated to all of those who have expended their talents in a
myriad of different ways to the cause of advancing naval aviation technology.
Exhibits include carrier models and carrier gear, an interactive test pilot school, weapons, sonobuoys, radios and sensors, ejection seat and helmet, a model plane collection, a UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle), engine and propulsion display, and flight simulators. There is also an A-1 which was the U.S. Navy's first aircraft. Made in 1911, the A-1 was capable of taking off or landing on land or water and reached speeds of 45 MPH.
On the grounds of the museum, there are 21 aircraft displayed on the flight line including four helicopters and nineteen airplanes. A cupola from the Cedar Point Lighthouse stands at the entrance to the flight line.
Admission is free, but the museum accepts donations. The museum is open Tuesday - Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM (closed on Mondays, New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). There is a small gift shop.