A group of Navy and civilian personnel in 1974 set out to formally organize a museum to preserve and celebrate the history of the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River. With support from the community, the county, and the state, the Naval Air Test & Evaluation Museum opened in 1978 in a building on grounds provided by the Naval Air Station; the building had originally been constructed as the USO Canteen near the end of World War II. In 1992, the Secretary of the Navy designated it as one of the ten official Navy museums. In 1997, its name changed to the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum to reflect a mission of preserving and interpreting the research, development, testing & evaluation of naval aircraft and related systems. It serves as the repository for artifacts, photographs & films, documents, and other heritage memorabilia from Patuxent River and from other stations, including Warminster, Pennsylvania, and Trenton, New Jersey, now consolidated at Patuxent River under the Naval Air Systems Command and the Naval Air Warfare Command Aircraft Division. The aircraft on the grounds represent aircraft developed for the Navy and actually tested at Patuxent River, and the institution is dedicated to those who advanced naval aviation technology in many different ways.

Photo: Richard E. Miller

Photo: Richard E. Miller

Photo: Richard E. Miller

Drum Point, Maryland · USA