COLUMBUS — An Ohio Bicentennial committee on Wednesday recommended a “Birthplace of Aviation” design for the state's commemorative quarter.

        The design features an astronaut and a plane designed by the Wright Brothers, who lived in Dayton, superimposed over a map of Ohio. It includes the phrase “Birthplace of Aviation.”

Thomas W. Noe, chairman of the Ohio commemorative quarter committee, asks the panel about its preferred design. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        The selection by the Ohio Bicentennial Commission's Quarter Program Committee was unanimous. The recommendation goes now to Gov. Bob Taft, who must issue a final recommendation to the Secretary of the Treasury.

        The U.S. Mint will issue about 1.2 billion Ohio commemorative quarters beginning in April 2002.

        The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which also recommends quarter designs for each state, last month said it liked an Ohio design showing a cardinal perched on buckeye leaves.

        Federal commission members agreed that if Ohio wants to circulate a quarter with an aviation theme, it would have to be redrawn.

        The design presented to the commission last month showed the Wright brothers' plane and an astronaut.

        North Carolina's quarter, which began circulating last month, also depicts the Wright brothers' plane in its historic 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk.

        Earlier, the U.S. Mint infuriated the Ohio panel with its own recommendations.

        The committee said the addition of stars to two coins cluttered the images and that some elements were historically inaccurate.

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