Howard Hughes leaving the cockpit of a Northrop Gamma, surrounded by a crowd at Newark New Jersey Airport. Hughes set a coast-to-coast speed record. A bank of microphones and a movie camera are seen beside the plane.
Howard Hughes taking off in the Lockheed 14 aircraft. Typed on a piece of paper attached to the image: "Howard Hughes' plane taking off from Union Air Terminal July 3, 1938, on first left of round-the-world flight. Released for personal use only. Not to be reprinted or employed commercially without the permission of the undersigned. L. A. Times New Bureau."
From the Howard Cannon Photograph Collection (PH-00192). Stamped on verso: "Las Vegas News Bureau - Las Vegas, Nevada Convention Center - Photographers Don English, Joe Buck, Jerry Abbott, Milt Palmer"
Description given with photo: "Before Surprise Flight, Long Beach, Calif.: No longer land-locked, Howard Hughes' 200-ton flying boat, world's largest plane, rides free in Los Angeles harbor after being floated for the first time. The builder and pilot later took the controversial plane into the air for a surprise one-mile flight during taxing trials. Credit (ACME) 11-3-47."