Career
Educated at Fielding High School in New Zealand, Thompson joined the Royal Air Force in 1970. He became Station Commander at Royal Air Force Wittering in 1988, Senior Air Staff Officer at Royal Air Force Rheindahlen in 1993 and an assistant to the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996. He went on to be Commandannt of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1997 and Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington, District of Columbia in 2000 before retiring in 2002.
