Thomas Wheatley Hall had a lifelong love of aviation which began when he was a boy. He cherished and had fond memories of the time he spent in Korea with Army Aviation during the Korean War. This experience furthered his interest and knowledge of aviation. After his stint in the Army, he worked for the Glenn L Martin Company, the State of Maryland and his own art studio prior to “enlisting” in the Navy. In his position as Director of Marketing Communications, Tom spent 30+ years working as a civilian for the Navy Recruiting Command where he was responsible for creating, planning and executing positive publicity in support of recruiting efforts.

Fondly known throughout the Navy Recruiting Command and the media world as "Tom Hall of the Navy", his rolodex included luminaries and friends like Zach Fischer who brought the USS Intrepid to NYC and who founded the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. To quote Zach, Tom was “the best recruiting man the Navy has ever had. He recruited me into the entire Armed Forces without me knowing it, but loving every bit of it.”
His interest in the “new” Smithsonian Air & Space Museum led him to produce, along with Melinda Mason, a poster for the opening of the museum in July 1976. To quote Don Lopez, former Deputy Director Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, “the poster portrayed a top view of the Museum with the ceilings of all the galleries removed. All the major artifacts in the galleries (air and space craft) were very accurately depicted as were the other major design features. The poster was a popular item in the Museum Shops and sold out in a relatively short period of time.”