In the late 1950s, DDT was sprayed and from 1962–1989 various pesticides, including fungicides and insecticides and herbicides, were used, contaminating the ground surface water and groundwater.

[2] For example, in April 2021 the Navy disclosed at a NAS Patuxent River Restoration Advisory Board meeting that 84,757 ppt of PFOS were detected in the groundwater at Webster Field.

[4]: 24 Prior to 1937 the area was prime farmland, consisting of several large plantations, Mattapony, Susquehanna, and Cedar Point, as well as numerous tenant and sharecropper properties and a few clusters of vacation homes.

Cedar Point was selected due to its remote location on the coastline, well removed from air traffic congestion, with ample space for weapons testing.

Rear Admiral John Henry Towers, Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics, requested approval and authorization to begin construction on December 22, 1941.

A lack of transportation in Saint Mary's County led the Navy to acquire and revitalize a branchline called the Washington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad, aka "The Farmers' Railroad", from Brandywine to Mechanicsville, Maryland, in June 1942 and build an extension south from Mechanicsville to the air station.

A highway extension to the new air station was required by the project—250,000 tons of material were transported by either truck or water routes during a year of construction.

[5] Employing some 7,000 at its peak of construction, the area had a Gold Rush "boom town" feel as local residents were joined by workers from all over the country, eager to get on the high-paying jobs on station.

In a ceremony presided over by RADM John S. McCain, Sr., then chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, Patuxent River was referred to as "the most needed station in the Navy.

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II jump jet, and the Lockheed P-3 Orion were just a few of the major aircraft programs undergoing the rigorous test and evaluation process at NAS Patuxent River.

On 1 April 1976, Patuxent River's airfield was named after pioneering aviator VADM Frederick M. Trapnell, a former commander of the Naval Air Test Center at the station.

Keynote address speaker, ADM Frederick H. Michaelis, Chief of Naval Material, noted: "All who fly in Navy blue remain indebted to Vice Admiral Trapnell.

[citation needed] In January 1992, the Pax River Station acquired the Aircraft Division of the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWCAD).

Naval Test Pilot School academic building, an Aviation Survival Training Center pool facility and a new air-traffic-control tower.

[citation needed] In September 2014, Captain Heidi Fleming became the first female commanding officer of NAS Patuxent River, where she served until 2016.