The black and white view of unidentified people surrounding the Lockheed 14 aircraft. Typed on a piece of paper attached to the image: "Rolling Howard Hughes' plane out of hangar at Floyd Bennett Field, with Lt. Thomas Thurlow, one of the navigators, calibrating the compass. 7/9/38."
Description given with photo: "Non-Stop Los Angeles - New York Flight Inaugurated New York -- Howard Hughes, pilot, and Joseph Bartles (right), relief pilot, at the controls of the TWA Constellation which inaugurated non-stop Los Angeles - New York flights when the ship landed at LaGuardia Airport Feb. 15. Hughes, famous flier and TWA executive, was at the controls during the flight made in 8 hours, 38 minutes. Many Hollywood luminaries made the first flight. Credit (ACME). 2-15-46."
Description printed on photograph's accompanying strip of paper: "Next stop-- Moscow! Le Bourget, France---- After making minor repairs, Howard Hughes and his companions took off from Le Bourget, to complete their record-smashing circuit of the globe in 3 days and 19 hours. The photo shows the Hughes plane, 'World's Fair, 1939,' propellers whirling, just before the takeoff for Moscow, second leg of the world flight."