About Naval Air Station Patuxent River - DCMilitary.com

NAS Patuxent River Gate 2 in 1942
strated enough value in war to gain its
own mantle of dignity and was so
recognized by Congress in 1921 with
the establishment of the Bureau of
Aeronautics (BuAer). BuAer took
control of all aspects of Navy and
Marine Corps aviation research,
development, test and evaluation, engineering,
maintenance and supply. The
only item remaining outside BuAer’s
cognizance was air-launched weaponry
which stayed in the hands of the
Bureau of Ordnance.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Naval
Aircraft Factory was the central element
of BuAer. Bureau headquarters was in
the Main Navy Building in Washington,
D.C., but naval aeronautics began at the
aircraft factory in Philadelphia. It
conducted all elements of research and
development, engineering, and what
today would be called depot level
maintenance. It also compiled cost
accounting data to compare with industry
bids. It had the capacity to actually
build a third of the Navy’s and Marine
Corps’ peacetime aircraft requirements,
but in fact never exercised more than a
small fraction of its construction capacity.
Rear Adm. William Moffett, chief of
BuAer from 1921 to 1933, believed he
had a responsibility to maintain a
healthy aviation industry in the United
States and accordingly opposed large
production runs at the factory. This
decision was understandably hailed by
the aviation industry.
In addition to the work done at the
factory, aircraft test and evaluation was
conducted at Naval Air Station
Anacostia in Washington, D.C. Air-
Our Rich Heritage
launched weapons were tested by the
Bureau of Ordnance at Dahlgren, Va.
While money was scarce in the
years between the wars, BuAer
achieved some major technological
advancements. Examples include the
air-cooled engine, the monoplane, the
all-metal monoqoque airframe,
improved catapults for carriers, oil
shock absorbers, low pressure tires,
metal propellers of variable pitch and
the dive bomber all adapted to the
unique nature of naval aviation.
The expansion of the armed forces
during World War II brought major
changes to naval aviation’s infrastructure.
The test and evaluation facilities at
NAS Anacostia quickly became
inadequate due to the growing complexity,
size and number of aircraft, in
addition to the area’s swelling population.
A new location became essential.
The first flight to NAS Patuxent River in 1943
It was to be in the general Washington,
D.C., area but large enough, and sufficiently
isolated, to allow for exhaustive
aircraft test and evaluation. A site at
Cedar Point, Md., was identified, and
on April 1, 1943, it was commissioned
as Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
The Pax River
Story:
Station Born
to Centralize
Facilities
Naval Air Station Patuxent River was
born to centralize widely dispersed air
testing facilities established during the
pre-World War II years.
Spurred by events of WWII, the
consolidation effort was swift, and the
farming operations at Cedar Point, Md.,
were replaced by flight test operations
within a year after ground was broken
in 1942.
During the commissioning ceremony
April 1, 1943 Rear Adm. John S.
McCain, then chief of the Navy’s
Bureau of Aeronautics, called Patuxent
River the most needed station in the
Navy during the commissioning
ceremony April 1, 1943.
By mid-August 1943, flight test, radio
test, aircraft armament and the aircraft
Where the Future of Naval Aviation Begins
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