Following the end of World War II, he attended Kansas State College under military auspices, graduating with a BS degree in agriculture in June 1947.

A member of the 17th Bombardment Group, he trained at Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina, and Eglin Field, Florida, for the raid on the Japanese homeland.

'[5]Following the war, he completed his bachelor's degree while on active duty and was subsequently assigned to 12th Air Force at March Field, California as Deputy Assistant Chief, Magterial.

He returned to Washington in August 1960 for a year's postgraduate study at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Virginia.

His Distinguished Flying Cross citation reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Corps) Richard A. Knobloch, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement as Co-Pilot of a B-25 Bomber of the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942.

Lieutenant Knobloch with 79 other officers and enlisted men volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring.