Patuxent River Naval Air Museum — Attraction in Lexington Park

Friday morning visit. Small crowd. A USN unit was having a ceremonial award presentation which impacted the main building but actually added to the visit. I had visited the museum 25 years ago when it was a quonset hut and planes parked in a parking lot, so this new facility was great to see. The Main Building was spotless and the artifacts well presented. The ramp parking area was clean and organized but..... There is no such thing as a bad air museum. There is always something to see and something to learn. But without a docent or guide the museum is just a junk yard of old metal. It is unique that all the planes on display actually flew at Pax River but there was no explanation why. What was the research goal? What was the result of the tests and did airmen sacrifice their lives to gain the knowledge. So while I will always visit a museum, I left Pax River...

Absolutely loved this place. There's actually two museums, the first has a few planes and a drone helicopter along with one of the first F-35 test models. The second building has more of the equipment used on the planes, model aircraft along with cut outs of the engines. In this same building are also flight simulators, this was a great experience. It's only 10 dollars for 30 minutes. The software is from the 90's so it's really outdated but the fact that you can get in the cockpit of a formerly operational military aircraft is just wild. The guys that work there are either former active military or engineers who worked with the aircraft there. They're all extremely knowledgeable and have some great stories about the aircraft. It's a great place to kill...

A small but excellent collection of aircraft that have flown at Pax River Naval Air Station. Although weather has taken its toll on some aircraft sitting outside, it is great to see and read about the aircraft that have flown in the flight test activities at Pax. Of special interest are the X-35 and the X-32, the two prototype aircraft that fought for the JSF contract, with the X-35 becoming the F-35. The X-32 was Boeing's delta wing entry into the competition that did not perform as well as it needed to, and it is on display with it's extremely unusual undernose massive engine intake.

The people who are volunteers at the museum are very friendly and knowledgeable and make the whole museum come to life. Definitely a...