Passersby along Three Notch Road just outside Patxuent River NAS Gate 1 will soon see a distinctive feature added to the new buildings west and south façades – vinyl supergraphics depicting naval aviation.
Lexington Park, MD — The new Patuxent River Naval Air Museum and Visitors Center should be open to the public before the end of the year. The building is expected to be completed in June and turned over the non-profit Patuxent River Naval Air Museum Association (PRNAMA) to begin the process of adding the museum displays and furnish it for the opening.
The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County were given a tour of the nearly completed building May 5 by Director of Public Works and Transportation George Erichsen, PRNAMA President Ed Sierra and Vice President Pete Butt, and representatives of the firm building the facility.
The commissioners have budgeted $570,000 to renovate the existing museum building and a separate warehouse. The commissioners also toured that warehouse which is intended to be used to store displays and provide space to work on them.
The commissioners were told by Sierra that renovating the warehouse is a Number One priority for the association board because items stored there now, including a spare flight simulator, are in jeopardy because of mold and lack of temperate control.
Butt told the commissioners during a tour of the new museum building that it would be opened in phases to give the association time to generate funds. The commissioners have also allocated $130,000 for operating costs to get the new museum up and running for the first year until the organization can be self-supporting.
The new museum will feature access to an outdoor airplane display. Upon entering the building visitors will see displays on early Naval Aviation prior to the 1940’s and early Lexington Park at the dawn of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in the early 1940’s. The museum would be manned initially by volunteers.
Butt showed the commissioners a space that will feature a theater that will allow the showing of videos on naval aviation.
Erichsen told the tour group that tickets for various museums in St. Mary’s County will be able to be purchased at the front desk of the new museum, which will also feature a gift shop.
Commissioner Mike Hewitt [R; 2nd District] expressed pleasure at the museum being a catalyst for longer stays in the community by visitors. “The key is it has to create additional interest outside the (museum) building.”
Passersby along Three Notch Road just outside Patuxent River NAS Gate 1 will soon see a distinctive feature added to the new buildings west and south façades – “vinyl supergraphics” depicting naval aviation.
The existing museum building will continue to house many of the displays now there, including the popular flight simulator. It also will be used for meeting rooms and offices.
Sierra presented an encouraging message to the commissioners. He said the association is continuing see a lot of support from inside the base fence line. He also said there has been a 40-percent increase in museum association membership in the last year.
Since the museum facilities sit on county land there has been some discussion about turning the operation over to the Museum Division of the county’s Recreation and Parks Department, although there has been no recent discussion on that idea and no decision on it has been made. The county’s museum advisory board has come out in opposition to taking over the Naval Air Museum.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
