Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame

Declaration of Enshrinement

2015

Richard G. Thomas

Richard Thomas, a former US Air Force pilot with proficiency in flying T-33, F-86, F-100, F-101, ERB-47 and B-52G and H model planes served as a test pilot who during his career logged 8,000 hours flying more than 116 different aircraft.  He conducted flutter tests in the B-52H with Skybolt missiles attached to wing pylons and helped develop a maximum separation maneuver for the release of nuclear weapons from an altitude of 55,000 feet. He also flew the X-21 laminar flow control testbed aircraft and in 1981 evaluated their Red Flag Aggressor Training Program at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada to identify ways to reduce departure/spin accidents associated with the program.

Serving as Northrop’s Deputy Site Manager for Operations and as a project test pilot at Groom Lake, aka Are 51, Nevada, Thomas led the flight-testing of TACIT BLUE, a one-of-a-kind demonstrator.  On February 5, 1982, he flew the first of four flights of TACIT BLUE and after that, piloted 70 of the airplane’s 135 flights in what the US Air Force considered one of the most successful high-technology demonstrator programs ever conducted.  It directly influenced the design of the B-2 stealth bomber including the development of the flight control system, low observables shaping and materials, propulsion installation, and electronic systems.  When Thomas stopped flying in 1986, he continued his career with Northrop Grumman as Technical Director on the B-2 program, developing flying techniques in the simulator before the maiden flight.  He retired from Northrop Grumman in 2000.

For his pioneering work at Groom Lake NV to enhance our national security, Richard Thomas joins the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame.

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TD BARNES, Executive Director

Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame