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.
Read more: http://www.thebaynet.com