News
Three U.S. states battle over first flight bragging rights
Nov. 4, 2013, Washington, D.C. - Ohio licence plates proclaim the state is the "Birthplace of Aviation," and North Carolina plates say the state is "First in Flight." Connecticut says both are wrong.
November 4, 2013 By CTV News
It says German-born aviator and state resident Gustave Whitehead was the first to make a powered airplane fly.
Now the three states are in a tussle over bragging rights.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a state law last summer insisting
that Whitehead flew in 1901 — two years before Wilbur and Orville
Wright, who were from Ohio, lifted off on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
State legislators in both Ohio and North Carolina have called Thursday news conferences to dispute the Connecticut claim.
Jane's All the World's Aircraft, an industry publication, recently
cited contemporary news accounts in concluding Whitehead was first.
