Thomas died from a gunshot wound to the shoulder, fired from the gun of one of his colleagues.
The SA-24s purchased by Libya were part of a vehicle-mounted system, the evidence suggests, and were not configured for shoulder firing.
Its anti-air artillery, usually mounted on trucks or in the form of shoulder-fired missiles, has not been effective, according to US Central Command, even on the sporadic accounts they've been fired at all.
The aircraft was flying at 6,500 metres, well beyond the range of shoulder-fired missiles.
(When Israelis speak of the danger of shoulder-fired missiles around Ben-Gurion Airport, they are making the same point).
They have no airplanes or helicopters, only a handful of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and poor communications gear.
And even the most skilled pilots are ineffective when weather is poor or they are forced to fly high and fast because of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
Proof of shoulder-fired SA-24s in Libya would also reorder the West's understanding of Russian arms exports in the past decade.
The aircraft was flying at 21,000 feet, well beyond the altitude range of shoulder-fired missiles, such as the Strela, used by the rebels to shoot down planes before.
After the revolution, vast arsenals of the Qaddafi-era army were looted, and Western officials are particularly worried that thousands of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles were spirited out of the country, possibly into the hands of extremist groups.
Photographs recently released by the Yemeni government suggest that an interdiction last month by the United States Navy and Yemen's security forces seized a class of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles not publicly known to have been out of state control.
