Description given with photo: "Hughes' "Hercules" Ready For Tests, Long Beach, Cal. -- An aerial view shows Howard Hughes' giant plywood seaplane "Hercules" ready for taxi tests at Long Beach. The initial flight of the plane, which cost $20,000,000 and will seat 700 persons, will not be attempted until early in 1947. #1 MGS for Credit. ACME. 10/13/46."
Howard R. Hughes, Sr., standing outdoors by a trench mining drill, which is underneath a tent-like canopy. Part of the Sharps-Hughes Tool Company's Second and Girard Streets plant is seen in the background.
From the Howard Cannon Photograph Collection (PH-00192). Left to right are R. W. Notti (Assistant City Manager), A. H. Kennedy (City Manager), Cannon, Shirley Ballinger (City Clerk), Mayor C. D. Baker, Commissioner E. W. Fountain, Commissioner Reed Whipple, Commissioner Harris P. Sharp, and Commissioner Wendell Bunker.