He was a project pilot on the B-58 supersonic bomber program and set an international altitude record of 85,360 feet with the aircraft carrying a payload of 5,000 kilograms (11,023 pounds) in 1962.

During his earlier Air Force career Fulton received three Distinguished Flying Cross medals for his test pilot work.

He flew the XB-70 prototype supersonic bomber on both NASA-USAF tests and NASA research flights during the late 1960s, attaining speeds exceeding Mach 3.

It culminated on December 1, 1984, when he remotely flew an unpiloted, heavily instrumented Boeing 720 to a prepared impact point on Rogers Dry Lake to test the flammability of anti-misting jet fuel in a crash situation.

After retiring from NASA, Fulton hired on as the Flight Operations Director and Chief Research Pilot for Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites.

There, he flew the maiden flights on the Advanced Technology Tactical Transport and the Scaled Composites Triumph twin engine executive jet.