Thom has been a longtime kite enthusiast working from his upstate New York home, and has taken kites to an unexpected audience; re-enactors of 1700-era US history. This has led him to research the earliest kites of the US and Europe and his profession – forensic investigator – provides him a special knowledge for research and discovery. He has been instrumental in the study of Peter Lynn’s “Worlds Oldest Kite”, held in the Drachen Foundation’s collection.