December 11, 2020
By Ethan Carter, Navy Office of Community Outreach – Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Hobbs, a native of Saint Leonard, Maryland, is currently serving on an exchange with the French Marine Nationale as a part of the Personnel Exchange Program.
Hobbs is a U.S. Navy pilot who’s been responsible for flying the MH-60S operationally and the T-6B as an instructor.
“I am currently flying the AS-65 Dauphin with the French Navy,” added Hobbs.
Hobbs is a 1999 Saint Mary’s Ryken high school graduate and 2007 University of Maryland graduate, who joined the Navy 18 years ago, shortly after 9/11.
“Growing up close to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, I remember seeing naval aircraft everywhere and thinking about how cool it would be to do that for a job,” Hobbs said. “Somewhere along the way I decided to take a swing at it, and fortunately, I was able to realize my goals.”
In a little-known place in the tri-county area is the town of Lexington Park.
The area of land is less than 6 square miles and the population is less than 12,000. The Patuxent River encompasses it and the water itself is mixed with salt water from the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, as well as fresh water from precipitation and watershed runoff. Hunting and fishing are always a treat and there are plenty of beaches and historic places such as Historic St. Maryâs City, Sotterley Plantation, Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Park as well as the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. If it were not for Naval Air Station Patuxent River, built in the 1940s, no one would know about this location. The base is actually larger than the city.
December 10, 2020
The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County have renewed the Intergovernmental Support Agreement (IGSA) between Naval Air Station Patuxent River and the county. This cooperative agreement extends mutual benefits to the county and the Navy through cost-saving initiatives and shared funding opportunities and creates a unified approach to resist any negative BRAC impacts for two more years.
According to NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs, “In fiscal year 2020, the agreement enabled eight completed projects at NAS Patuxent River and saved the taxpayers nearly $1 million in road repair and maintenance. The IGSA streamlines contracting and execution for these projects by leveraging St. Mary’s County’s existing contracts for road maintenance services, which in turn provides NAS Patuxent River greater flexibility in its requests for road repair.”
Under a mid-fall afternoon sky, blue and cloudless with unlimited visibility, some 30 midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academyâs Aerospace Engineering Department recently had a chance to see and hear what their naval aviation futures could look like.
Overhead, test aircraft roared across the clear expanse, some banking out over the bay, attracting the attention of the aero engineer firsties during their field trip to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX)23 onboard Naval Air Station Patuxent River the second week of November.
This outing was a rare escape from Annapolis for these students, their guide said. âThis year itâs even more important because of lost opportunities,â said retired Navy Capt. Robert Niewoehner, who is a professor in the aerospace engineering department. He was the F/A-18E/F chief test pilot at VX-23 from 1994 to 1998. Their summer internships at the likes of VX-23 and the Test Pilot School and some flying events were curtailed in light of COVI