PATUXENT RIVER — Capt. Donald A. Wright III, a Navy test pilot who became the first helicopter pilot to command Naval Air Station Patuxent River, died Oct. 21. He was 83.
Wright served as the air station’s 26th commanding officer from June 28, 1989, to June 30, 1992, according to a NAS Patuxent River news release issued Oct. 30. It was his third assignment at Pax River, and the base said his focus on infrastructure and environmental stewardship as commanding officer set the tone for the next 35 years of installation management.
For St. Mary’s County, Wright’s tenure covered a period when the base’s relationship with its neighbors was becoming as important as its flight line. As he left command in 1992, he said he wanted to be remembered as a problem solver, adding that the future “involves more than ever the great partnership between the base and the community.”
A helicopter career built at Pax
Born Feb. 2, 1943, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Wright was the son of Donald Alexander Wright Jr. and Helen Louise (Burger) Wright. His father had served in the Navy, but Wright said he came to the service on his own through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio and later a master’s degree in management from the University of Southern California.
He earned his wings as a helicopter pilot in 1966 and flew with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadrons 9, 1 and 7, including rescue missions from the decks of USS Essex and the British carrier HMS Ark Royal. An exchange tour with the Royal Navy put him with its 824 and 706 squadrons.
Wright first came to Pax River as a student. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School with Class 66 in 1974 and joined the Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Directorate as its first administration officer. From 1975 to 1977 he was project officer for engineering development tests of the Light Airborne Multipurpose System Mark III helicopter, the Navy’s LAMPS program.
He then led a department at Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 3 out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville, deploying aboard the carriers Forrestal, Saratoga, America and John F. Kennedy. In 1982 he moved to Naval Air Systems Command headquarters as development officer and later deputy program manager for the SH-60F helicopter.
After his promotion to captain in 1985, Wright attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and returned to NAVAIR to direct its Test and Evaluation Division. His second Pax River tour came as senior member of the aviation board for the Board of Inspection and Survey, monitoring the engineering development of aircraft weapons systems.
Commanding the station
When he took command in 1989, the station supported the Naval Air Test Center and its tenant commands. Wright was known as a promoter of the Navy’s Total Quality Management approach, which emphasized fixing problems at their source and coordinating across departments, according to the base.
He described his job as more than troubleshooting. “We’re supposed to be creating process that produce the results we want,” he said while in command.
In 1992, he predicted the station would change with the world, dropping research and engineering it no longer needed and taking on new work as it came. Three decades later, Pax River remains the Navy’s hub for aircraft research, development, test and evaluation, and it marked its most recent change of command in September.
Wright is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Ann Wright; three sons, Donald, Scott and Matthew Wright; seven grandchildren; and his siblings Doug Wright, Linda Clark, Dave Wright, Rich Wright, Laura Gawel and Karen Huysers.
The Navy’s release did not include funeral or memorial arrangements.
