Naval Air Station Patuxent River

Naval Air Station Patuxent River
Characteristics
ICAO code	KNHK
IATA code	NHK
Coordinates	38 ° 17 '10 "  N , 76 ° 24' 42"  W Coordinates: 38 ° 17 '10 "  N , 76 ° 24' 42"  W.
Height above MSL	12 m (39  ft )
Transport links
Street	MD 235 / MD 246
Basic data
opening	April 1, 1943
operator	US Navy
Runways
6/24	3599 m of asphalt
14/32	2969 m of concrete
2/20	1530 m of asphalt

The Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River , is a naval aviator , base, the United States Navy in St. Mary's County in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Patuxent River . This is where the United States Naval Test Pilot School is located .

The base serves as a center for testing and evaluating naval aviation systems. The NAS was opened on April 1, 1943 on land that was largely acquired through expropriation . During the Second World War , the station grew rapidly. In the 1950s and 1960s, many naval equipment testing facilities were built and established such as the US Naval Test Pilot School (1958), the Weapons Systems Test Division (1960) and the Propulsion System Evaluation Facility .

There is also a test facility for the new V-22 Osprey . After the end of the Cold War , the US Navy brought together all research and testing facilities for fixed-wing and moving-wing aircraft here. 17,000 people work in the complex, consisting of active Navy personnel, civil employees, contractors and other military employees.

Naval Outlying Field Webster

With the Naval Outlying Field Webster there is a satellite landing site of "Pax River" about 10 km south. The airfield was created during the Second World War. The US Navy uses the airfield for tests with unmanned aerial vehicles ; this task has been the responsibility of the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 24 (UX-24) since 2018 .

Incidents

• On October 30, 1954 an R7V-1 / Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation of the US Navy ( registration number Bu 128441) disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean about 560 kilometers east of Maryland (USA). The machine was in flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River to Lajes Field military airfield in the Azores. All 42 occupants, 21 crew members and 21 passengers were killed.

Trivia

In Andreas Eschbach's pseudobiographical novel Perry Rhodan - The Greatest Adventure , the title hero visits the test pilot school at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

Personalities

The following people were born on the military base:

• Kenneth S. Reightler (* 1951), American astronaut
• Chrissy Houlahan (* 1967), American politician

Web links

• Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) ( Memento from October 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
• Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division ( Memento from October 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
• NAS Patuxent River
• NAS Patuxent River , Globalsecurity.org
• Naval Air Systems Command Headquarters, Strategic Planning Division , "The History of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland," undated.

Individual evidence

1. ^ US Navy launches first unmanned air vehicle test squadron, Flightglobal, October 22, 2018
2. ^ Accident report L-1049 Bu 128441 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 23, 2020.