A view of Howard Hughes (left) and California Governor Frank Merriam (right) dining together at a banquet for Howard Hughes in Los Angeles, California.
Description given with photo: "Hull of "Hercules" Starts Journey to Assembly Dock, Culver City, Calif. - The 220-foot-long fuselage of Howard Hughes' gigantic airplane crawls down the highway on truck dollies after leaving the Culver City, Calif., plant. the hull is on its way to the graving dock for assembly at Terminal Island, Calif., 28 miles away. Note size of man on top of hull. NY EUR CAN. Credit (ACME) 6/16/46"
Transcribed from attached press release: "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."