Patuxent River Naval Air Station was born of an effort to centralize widely dispersed air testing facilities established during the pre-World War II years.

    Spurred by events of W.W.II, the consolidation effort was swift, and the farming operations at Cedar Point, Maryland, were replaced by flight test operations within a year after ground was broken in 1942.

    Rear Admiral John S. McCain, then chief of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, called Patuxent "the most needed station in the Navy" during the commissioning ceremony on April 1, 1943.

    By mid-August 1943, Flight Test, Radio Test, Aircraft Armament and the Aircraft Experimental and Development squadrons were in place at Patuxent River. By the end of 1944, the station had formed the Service Test, Electronics Test, Flight Test and Tactical Test divisions.

    The Squadron Duty Officer (SDO) is the squadron contact point, who communicates with former squadron members about squadron information, sea stories, squadron pictures, scuttlebutt, and gathers information about squadron buddies. Please contact the Squadron SDO as listed on this link. Sharing your stories, photos etc. is essential to the success of the Skyhawk Association and we invite you to JOIN with us in preserving the Skyhawk legacy.

Squadron Patches:

Naval Air Test Center Strike Aircraft Test Patuxent River, MD Patch from Bud Southworth	Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, MD Patch from G. Verver	Naval Air Test Center Service Test Patuxent River, MD Patch from G. Verver	Naval Air Center ASW Patuxent River, MD Patch from G. Verver

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Heritage:

• Commissioning Day, April 1, 1943

• The Naval Air Test Center was established as a separate entity on June 16, 1945, organizationally dividing the test and support functions.

• Formalized classroom instruction started in 1948 with the establishment of a Test Pilot Training Division.
  

• The first U.S. all jet-powered airplane, the XP-59A was flight tested at Pax River in 1944.
  

• The FR-1 Fireball, a carrier-based fighter which combined a conventional engine and a General Electric jet engine, and the FH-1 Phantom, the first Navy all-jet airplane to operate from a carrier, were tested at Patuxent in 1945.
  

• The first U.S. test of the adaptability of jet aircraft shipboard operations was conducted by the Naval Air Test Center in 1946 when Lieutenant Commander James Davidson flew an FD-1 aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  

• In 1947, Commander Turner F. Caldwell piloted a Douglas Skystreak D-558-1 to a world's speed record - 640.663 miles per hour.

• Captain W.V. Davis, director of the Flight Test Division, became the first Navy pilot to exceed the speed of sound on Nov. 7, 1949. Test pilots were exposed to ejection seats in 1949, barrier engagements in 1951, and a simulated angled deck on the USS Midway in 1952.

• Several airborne early warning squadrons operated from Patuxent in the 1950s. Among them were VW-2, VW-11, VW-13 and VW-15. They patrolled the Atlantic Ocean along the DEW (Distant Early Warning) line.

• NATC's increased responsibility for development as well as pure testing was acknowledged as early as 1951. Rapidly advancing technology forced changes in test techniques and in the organizational structure.

• In 1953, the Tactical Test Division was merged with the Service Test Division. The U.S. Naval Test Pilot School was established in 1958. The Weapons Systems Test Division was established in 1960 through the consolidation of the Armament Test and Electronics Test divisions.

•  01 OCT 1955: Pax River Test Pilot LT Gordon L. "Gordo" Gray set the world 500Km closed course speed record of 695.163mph flying A4D-1 BuNo 137820.

• In the 1960's a buildup of fleet antisubmarine warfare squadrons was taking place at Patuxent. Patrol Squadron 8, 24, 44, 49, and 56 formed Fleet Air Patuxent and later Fleet Air Wing Five. A VP training squadron, Patrol Squadron 30, was established in 1962.

• Oceanographic Development Squadron Eight, then known as the Oceanographic Air Survey Unit, was home ported in Patuxent River in 1968 from a detachment left behind by Naval Air Transport Squadron One when that unit moved to Norfolk, Va.

• Three divisions of the test center, Flight Test, Service Test and Weapons Systems Test, gave up assets to enable the Technical Support Division to form in 1967. Automation of NATC's data processing brought the Computer Services Division on line in 1968.

• In the 1970s, the SAW squadrons began leaving Patuxent for NAS Brunswick, Me., and NAS Jacksonville, Fla. VP-30 was the last to go in 1975. Helping offset the squadron departures, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron One moved to Pax River from Key West, Fla., in 1973 and the Naval Aviation Logistics Center was formed in 1977.

• A sweeping reorganization took place in 1975, preparing NATC for its role as the Naval Air Systems Command's principal site for development testing. Under the plan, Flight Test, Service Test and Weapons Systems Test divisions were disestablished and new directorates were formed to evaluate aircraft by type and mission.

• The "new" NATC was comprised of Strike Aircraft, Antisubmarine Aircraft, Rotary Wing Aircraft and Systems Engineering Test directorates. The Computer Services and Technical Support directorates and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School remained intact.

• A major upgrading of test facilities began in the late 1970s with some of the largest construction appropriations in the history of the base. Reflecting changes spurred by this technological growth, the 1980s saw the Computer Services Directorate become the Computer Sciences Directorate, the Technical Support Directorate become the Range Directorate, and the Antisubmarine Aircraft Test Directorate become the Force Warfare Aircraft Test Directorate.

• In 1991, the Navy began consolidating its technical capabilities to improve its products and services, resulting in the creation of four large, warfare centers. Two Naval Air Warfare Centers were established to integrate sites and capabilities to improve services to the fleet and sponsors.  One of these, the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), located in Washington, D.C., has integrated sites and capabilities to improve services to the fleet and sponsors. NAWC streamlined its resources into two divisions: the Aircraft Division located at Patuxent River and the Weapons Division, at China Lake, Calif.

• The standup of the NAWC Aircraft Division at Pax River took place on January 1, 1992. Thus began its role as the Navy's full spectrum research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), engineering, and fleet support center for air platforms. The NAWC Aircraft Division integrated the Naval Air Test Center along with the Naval Air Development Center, Warminster, Pa.; Naval Air Engineering Center, Lakehurst, N.J.; Naval Air Propulsion Center, Trenton, N.J.; and the Naval Avionics Center, Indianapolis, Ind.

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