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Panel OKs Bill to Add Historic Wright Flyer to Ohio Seal

By: Associated Press
Posted on: Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A proposal to add the historic Wright Flyer to Ohio’s state seal has cleared a House committee.

The House State Government Committee approved the measure by unanimous vote Tuesday. The idea has been proposed before without getting anywhere.

This marks the latest effort in the Wright brothers’ home state to reinforce their place in history as aviation pioneers.

Connecticut claims that a powered flight by another aviator pre-dated Orville and Wilbur Wright’s 1903 famous flight off Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, by two years. Connecticut lawmakers passed a law in 2013 requiring their governor to proclaim “Powered Flight Day” in honor of aviator Gustave Whitehead.

Ohio lawmakers acted last year to repudiate the claim. Their resolution rejected the idea that Whitehead ever flew a powered, heavier-than-air machine of his own design.