He came bounding into my life some 34 years ago on this day.

As one interested in aviation, it was seemingly prophetic. On this December 17 date in 1903, two brothers from Dayton, Oh., successfully flew their Wright Flyer into a stiff North Carolina breeze at Kill Devil Hills, also known as Kittyhawk. And on the day he was born, Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan were bouncing in the turbulence over t...