Press release attached to back of photo: "A roughneck fits a new Hughes Jet bit into the drill collar preparatory to running the drill stem into the hold. In 1953 more than 500,000 rock bits produced by the Hughes Tool Company of Houston, Texas, were used in the United States alone. The invention of the rock bit by Howard R. Hughes, Sr., made it possible to drill far deeper into the earth beyond the shallow oil deposits which are now practically exhausted. Without rotary drilling equipment of this kind the world might revert to a horse and buggy economy."
From the Howard Cannon Photograph Collection (PH-00192). Stamped on verso: "Edward J. Allen Associates, INC. Nevadas Largest Photographic Organization P.O. Box 4253 - Las Vegas Nevada 89106"
Billboard reading Welcome home, Howard!, dedicated to Howard Hughes in 1972, located on Desert Inn Road behind the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Landmark Hotel tower is seen behind the Convention Center dome.
Aerial view of Hughes HK-1, Flying Boat. The plane was designed and built by Howard Hughes; it it shown near completion at its graving dock at Terminal Island in the Los Angeles Harbor. Transcribed from note on back of photo: "World's largest airplane--After Ground tests here the plane will undergo extensive water-taxi tests."
A section of Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" or "Flying Boat" being moved (with a police escort) from the Hughes Aircraft plant in Culver City, California to Terminal Island in the Los Angeles Harbor where the plane was assembled in June of 1946.