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Clayton Lay Thomas, M.D., M.P.H. The Balloon School of Massachusetts was incorporated by Dr. Clayton Thomas and his wife Peggy.
Clayton was certified as an LTA., ( i.e. balloon) pilot in 1970. At that time, every balloon pilot was an instructor. The private-commercial distinction came later.
His interest in aviation started in 1943 while in the Navy and in medical school. He was allowed to go to the Richmond VA Airbase and hitch-hike rides on military aircraft. During his military career, he was stationed in China, Guam, Hawaii, and Pensacola, Florida where he was an instructor at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine. Later, having completed 10.5 years in the Navy, the last seven either working with Navy or Marine squadrons as a physician, and eventually as a flight surgeon, he left the Navy to begin either postgraduate training or as a member of the faculty at various medical schools, including the University of Utah, Harvard Medical School, Boston University Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Cornell University Medical School. In 1946 his internship, as a civilian, was at McGill's teaching hospital Montreal General and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Bermuda. He completed his training in internal medicine, also he became Board certified in Preventive Medicine in the subspecialty of Aerospace Medicine. His interest in sports medicine began while he had a football scholarship at the University of Kentucky. This interest continued and he was fortunate in being part of the medical administrative committee of the U.S. Olympic Committee. This involved participation at the Mexico City and Munich Olympics Games. He was also the balloon meister for opening ceremonies at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. Previously he was Medical Vice President of a Fortune 500 Company. His interest in medicine continues. He is a member of the Board of Health in his hometown of Brimfield, MA. He is also part of the program of Integrated Problems for freshmen medical students at  Boston University Medical School. Clayton is an editor of Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. In aviation, he learned to parachute and went on to free fall, which meant leaving the aircraft and being responsible for pulling the ripcord. This was in preparation for writing "Medical Aspects of Sport Parachuting", an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He became certified as a pilot of gas balloons, in which the lifting gas is helium rather than hot air. This was done in order to be prepared to take long distance and long duration flights. Clayton has piloted balloons in various places in the U.S., as well as Canada, Switzerland, Germany and France. Clayton has logged approximately 1,800 hours as a commercial balloon pilot. He has trained 120 students. As Chief Pilot at the Balloon School he has taken over 7000 individuals for a balloon ride. He is also qualified as a commercial pilot of helicopters, and as a private pilot of fixed wing aircraft. All of Peggy and Clayton's children, Robert, Clayton J., Wendy and Gwynne are certified commercial balloon pilots. Robert owns Balloons Unlimited in Oakton VA. Clayton Jeffery is an investment banker in Denver CO, where he is active as a sail plane pilot. Wendy is a nurse at Tantasqua Regional High School, and is the principal repair person at the Balloon School's FAA approved LTA repair station. Gwynne was Executive VP of Buena Vista Productions, a Disney division. Previously she was awarded a Daytime Emmy while working for Martha Stewart. Another photo from the Hudson Elks Club Festival Clayton has had many adventures during his varied carreers, including being hijacked by terrorists on a flight to Paris, after attending a medical convention in Vienna, Austria. After stops in Geneva, Catania, Sicily, and Damascus, the plane was forced down in Teheran. Dr. Thomas was the passenger on the runway with the armed terrorist behind him on the international newscasts. The story is riveting, and will surely be part of the conversation at breakfast, after your flight!! |
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