Description printed on photograph's accompanying strip of paper: "Howard Hughes in the cockpit of his plane. A few minutes before leaving Paris for Moscow on the second leg of his flight around the world. 7-12-38"
Transcribed from back of photo: "Howard Hughes in the cockpit of the new XF-11 reconnaissance plane which he designed and built in conjuntion with Air Material Command engineers. He is preparing for its first flight. One of the world's fastest long-range photo planes, it can attain a speed of over 400 miles per hour."