Howard Hughes sits at the controls of his 400,000 pound Flying Boat just a day prior to its first tests in the Los Angeles Harbor in California. The aircraft was 219 feet long with a wing span of 320 feet.
L-R: Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Howard Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Col. Carl E. Jackson, Air Research and Development Headquarters, Baltimore; Gale J. Moore, pilot; and unidentified pilot in front of the experimental helicopter XH-17 Flying Crane on October 23, 1952. This was one of Hughes' last public appearances.