[1] As a graduate of ROTC, he joined the United States Air Force as a Second Lieutenant in 1952 and earned his pilot wings in 1952.

After graduating from Parks College, and leaving the USAF, he worked for Beech Aircraft Company (Beechcraft Corporation) in 1956 flying all models, and served with the Kansas Air National Guard from 1956 to 1961.

Boeing selected Thomas to attend the US Navy Test Pilot School, Class 31 with future Admirals Box and Wilson.

[2] He stayed with the company until 2000, his official retirement, and completed his career with Northrop as a Technical Director applying his knowledge to the B-2 flight test program.

His "hazardous high-angle-of-attack stall and spin testing (recovery maneuver) in the F-5 established procedures now followed by fighter pilots around the world.

[3] He also spent time in Madrid, Spain helping the Spanish Air Force flight test the CASA C-101 and flew the aircraft in the Farnborough International Airshow in July 1978.

Sustaining only minor injuries, Thomas landed at 8,000 feet (2,400 m) on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada and was successfully rescued by helicopter, having descended to a lower elevation.

[4][5] In 1964, he was assigned to fly the T-38 with three of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, Gordon Cooper, Deke Slayton, and Wally Schirra, to maintain proficiency and stay current.

Though originally a highly classified project; President Bill Clinton declassified some of Tacit Blue in 1996 and Thomas was then able to tell some of his story.

He was recognized by the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 2005, (monument located at Boeing Plaza), in the city of Lancaster, California.