Howard Hughes (wearing hat) receives congratulations from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia at Floyd Bennett Airport in Brooklyn. The gentleman wearing a polka dot bow tie, standing behind the mayor is Grover Whalen. Mr. Whalen was president of the 1939 New York World's Fair.
Text typed onto a piece of paper attached to the image: "Howard Hughes strutting across a New York hotel lobby after completing a Round The World flight. 7-15-38. (Press Association)."
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"