Description given with photograph: "Fuselage of Hughes' Hercules Leaves Hangar, Culver City, Calif - Cautiously moving down the field on dollies after leaving the Culver City, Calif., plant hangar, the 200-foot hull-fuselage of Howard Hughes' Hercules is made ready for the 28-mile trip to Terminal Island, Calif., where the air giant will be assembled. NY 80 Credit Line (ACME) 6/16/46."

A view of the controls of Howard Hughes' Flying Boat in Long Beach, California. Howard Hughes is standing and wearing a hat.

A view of Howard Hughes' Flying Boat being prepared for a test run in San Pedro, California.

Description given with photo: "Howard Hughes Is Asked About His XF-11 By Senator! Culver City, Calif. - Millionaire plane builder Howard Hughes, left, is asked about his controversial XF-11 photo reconnaissance plane, background, by Senator Harry Cain, right, Republican of Washington. Cain is member of the Senate War Investigating Committee, and inspected Hughes craft after the plane builder had test flown the ship. An earlier model of same design nearly cost Hughes his life when it crashed in Beverly Hill last winter. Note wind-blown hair on both Pilot Hughes and observer Cain. Photo by Felix Pagel. 8/16/47."

Transcribed from press release attached to photo: "HUGHES READY FOR TAKE-OFF IN SECOND XF-11 FLIGHT. CULVER CITY, Calif., April 5 -- Howard Hughes, famed flier-industrialist, recovered from injuries following crash last July 7, is shown here just before he test-piloted today a duplicate of the plane in which he nearly lost his life. He designed and built the plane, designated XF-11, and one of the world's fastest photo-reconnaissance ships, for the Army Air Forces in conjunction with the Air Materiel Command engineers.