FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland ~ 30 DEC 2025

Serving The Best Troops, Families, And Veterans In The World!! | The Canteen Crew

[laurenmarlowe]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland

Naval Air Station Patuxent River, also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River.

It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, the Atlantic Test Range, Patuxent River Naval Air Museum, and serves as a center for test and evaluation and systems acquisition relating to naval aviation. The station also operates a small outlying field, NOLF Webster.

Since its commissioning April 1, 1943, the installation has progressed from being known as the east coast’s Naval Air Transport Service base, testing experimental aircraft, equipment and material, into a Center of Excellence for Naval Aviation.

The workforce at the air station increased nearly tenfold in the mid-1990s when a round of Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC) brought more than 20,000 military and civilian employees here as the air station it was selected to host the headquarters of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD).

In addition to NAVAIR and NAWCAD, this BRAC consolidation and integration effort also relocated more than 50 tenant activities to the air station.

One of seven Navy acquisition systems commands, NAVAIR serves as the principal provider for naval aviation. NAVAIR's mission is to provide full life-cycle support of naval aviation aircraft, weapons and systems operated by Sailors and Marines.

This support includes research, design, development and systems engineering; acquisition; test and evaluation; training facilities and equipment; repair and modification; and in-service engineering and logistics support.

Learn More About Naval Air Station Patuxent River HERE!!

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: canteen; troops

[laurenmarlowe]

Good evening everyone!

Posting a bit early this evening, had a very long drive this weekend, and I am about to fall over! Trip was very fun.

Hope you have a terrific Tuesday!

*HUGS*

[PROCON]

Thanks for tonight’s Road Trip, Lauren!

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

THANK YOU
for your service!

[radu]

Howdy, lauren! *HUGZ*

Glad you’re home safe and sound. That IS a long drive, no doubt. But it was worth it all to have a great time with the family.

Sleep well and sleep LATE. :-)

[posterchild]

I grew up a few miles upstream from there. I miss that muddy water.

[luvie]

Sorry! I'm such a dork. I totally forgot! EEK!

~ Road Trip: Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland ~

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT

Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies' military
and the family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.

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[wjcsux]

Been there many times during my career with NAVAIR, great place, great people.

[luvie]

Glad you’re home safe and that you had a wonderful time. My 7-hour drive to Brian/College Station is about the outer limit of my stamina, and then I’m tired for a week after. LOL! Happy New Year! Have plans?

[radu]

Howdy, luvie.

Must have been a really good show you were watching. LOL

Did it ever get above freezing there?

[Robert A Cook PE]

Ah, Pautuxet River, Navy Air Test site.

So, in WWII, they needed to “test” anti-air proximity fuses. So, they needed a “soft landing ground for the shells to hit without getting broken up by impact. Had to be close to the Maryland electronics lab.

Went Pautuxet, aimed the artillery AA shells straight up. Stood on the muddy ground nearby the cannon, listened for the “splutt” nearby when they hit. Then went digging for they hoped was a fuze. (Nobody ever wrote about what the enlisted artillery crew thought about being their own targets.)

[skinny old man]

Oh Yeah ! That's where I left on a Super Connie Jan.1955 to Argencia, Newfoundland,Ernest Harmon Air Force Base,Lages,Azores,Port< Lautey,French Morroco to catch up with the USS Lake Champlain(CVA-39),finally in Algiers,Algeria.

[SkyDancer]

~ Evening All! ~

~

~ Welcome To My World ~

I’m Down There Somewhere

[luvie]

Hey there, Janey! Haven’t seen you for a while. Hope you had a lovely Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! Happy flying, too!

[luvie]

Hey there, radu!

No, actually I was scrolling the social media too much...AND listening to a true crime show about a missing teenager here in Texas. And I haven’t done this for a few days and simply forgot. LOL!

[luvie]

The weather thingy says we got up to 41, but that had to have been last night at 12:01 am. I didn’t see anything above freezing during the day. I think the snow is about over. it’s 31 right now. Thankfully, the wind isn’t roaring. That would really make it feel awful.

[radu]

It’s easy to get caught up when doing that. I’ve been doing the same, though listening to Barry while scrolling. :-)

[radu]

Yeah, pretty good odds the high was at midnight.

The warmest I saw was 37 here. The wind had a nasty bite. I went out to the well house to make sure the heater was working properly and was quite happy to get back inside. No wind tomorrow, they say, but the temp will be about the same.

Yep, the snow has finally moved on at last. You’re now warmer than I am. LOL It’s 25 here at the moment.

[moreisee]

My dad was a test pilot at service test for three years in the late 1950’s. Great place to live as a kid. Lots of water holes and woods to explore and water skiing in the summer in the bay at Jack Rues place. Best of times for sure.

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good Tuesday morning and ((HUGS)) to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country and thanks Lauren for this morning's thread.

Yesterday at Comanche Lake:

How's everyone doing this morning?