Ohio prints 35,000 license plates with Wright Brothers error
Not quite Wright.
The state of Ohio is proud of its place in aviation history. Whether it’s the Wright Brothers Museum in Dayton or the nickname of that city’s eponymous university’s sports teams, those famous fliers are, often, front and center.
It should be no surprise then that the state decided to commemorate its connection to flight with new license plates. And what better image to go on the plates than The Wright Flyer, the brothers’ first plane.
The only problem: the designers put the plane’s banner on the wrong end and had already printed 35,000 plates before the error was noticed at the unveiling.
This morning Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio BMV Registrar Charlie Norman unveiled Ohio's new standard license plate. The new plate will be available to drivers starting Dec. 29. Ohio last updated its standard license plate design in 2013. pic.twitter.com/tIOaeycgh5
— Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (@Ohio_BMV) October 21, 2021
The stacked platform is actually the front of the plane.
“We will recycle the 35,000 plates that had been printed. It is too early to know about if there will be any additional cost,” said Lindsey Bohrer, assistant director of communications with the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
The new license plate illustrates both the rural and urban parts of Ohio with a banner that reads “Birthplace of Aviation” draped across the horizon. But the banner, which should have been trailing behind the plane, was attached to its front.
The corrected plates are scheduled to be released Dec. 29.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation joked about the snafu on social media.
“Y’all leave Ohio alone. They wouldn’t know. They weren’t there,” the NCDOT said, including the hashtag #FirstInFlight, referencing the fact that the Wright Brothers built their plane in Ohio but took their first flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C.
With News Wire Services
