Hedley Thomas was a 76 Squadron pilot on Vampires in the early sixties. He spent two years with the USAF as an exchange instructor on helicopters, one year in Vietnam with 9 SQN and seven months in Ismailia with UNEF II. From 1974 to 1976 he was CO 9 SQN

Hedley left the RAAF in 1979 and flew commercially in Australia and PNG before working in Riyadh for the RSAF between 1990 - 1995 as a PC-9 flight simulator instructor.

He went to Singapore in 1997 for two years as a UH-1H Flight Simulator instructor with the RSAF.

Hedley retired in 1999