Patuxent River Naval Air Museum

 
The outdoor display area. In the foreground is an F/A-18A Hornet, followed by an RA-5C Vigilante, then an A-6E Intruder.  


This museum is located in Lexington Park, Maryland, next to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and it documents a great deal of the aviation history of the Navy. Although most of the aircraft on display were used for test purposes at NAS Patuxent River, they represent several generations of front-line aircraft that saw duty everywhere Naval Aviation was summoned. The outdoor display area has nearly two dozen aircraft (including helicopters), but there's a large and interesting indoor display, too, containing many unusual items (for example, historical examples of ejection seats, helmets, and jet engines, plus an inflatable airplane).

I have nine pages of pictures of some of the aircraft on display, but there was a whole lot more than what I photographed. An aviation enthusiast could easily spend several hours looking over all the numerous exhibits.

Internet Links

Pictures

 
Grumman A-6E Intruder. Click for lots more information from the museum's web site.  


 
 

 
The A-6E carries an impressive load of 500-lb bombs: a dozen under each wing, and a half-dozen under the belly, for a total of about 15,000 lbs. In case you're curious, this is part of what was stenciled on each bomb: "PRACTICE BOMB BDU-45/B 500 LBS, THERMALLY PROTECTED W/CABLE ASSY, P/N 30003-923ASGIG WT 485 CU FT 3.5, INERT FILLER C WT195 LBS". I take this to mean that a 500-lb bomb has less than 200 lbs of explosives—the rest is the casing.  


 
Lockheed S-3B Viking. Click for lots more information from the museum's web site.  


 
The folded-up rotor blades of a Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion. Click for lots more information from the museum's web site.  


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