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he left to join the Airmail Service. The firm remained in business, operating in a small way on military development and airmail plane contracts, but with no production orders, until April 9, 1929 when Thomas-Morse was sold to Consolidated Aircraft Company, Buffalo, New York, and merged with their business.

During this time William moved to Florida to make his permanent home, where in the 1930s he became active in model plane building and amateur astronomy. In these hobbies he contributed much to help the national youth movement in the building and flying of model planes. With his son, William Jr., they actively participated in this competitive sport and won numerous national awards in contests. He also became a founding member of the Daytona Beach Stargazers Club, a local group interested in astronomy, and for many years bimonthly meetings were held in the Thomas home for talks and viewings with their homemade telescopes. This group helped the Government to meet a shortage of optical prisms during World War II by making them in their own workshop. William and his son also became engaged in building gas model engines for their model planes and in 1960 made one of the first successful Wankel rotary engines [[strikethrough]] to run successfully [[/strikethrough]] in the United States.

Following a lingering illness William T. Thomas died at his home on July 29, 1966, at age 78, survived by his wife and son. His brother, Oliver W. Thomas, had previously passed away suddenly at Brighton, England, on June 14, 1948. William was a member of the Early Birds, the Society of Automotive Engineers, a former President of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and a founding member of the Daytona Beach Stargazers Club.

Flying Pioneers William and Oliver Thomas rightfully deserve great credit for their major contributions to the early development of aviation progress in the United States. They started at the very beginning of its growth, and by vision and determined hard work became highly respected and internationally known during the early progress of the industry. The record of their noteworthy accomplishments and the name "Thomas Brothers" will long remain in the annals of American aviation history.

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