Howard Hughes inspecting the equipment on the flight deck inside of the HK-1, Hughes Flying Boat, which he designed and built. The man pictured behind Hughes is possibly Earl Martyn, Hughes' flight engineer. The Flying Boat was near completion and was located on Terminal Island in the Los Angeles Harbor.
Trascribed from attached press release: " Howard Hughes (wearing hat) talks over details of tomorrow's initial taxi testing of his 24,000 horsepower flying boat, Nov. 1, 1947." Hughes is standing between Chal Bowen(?) (left) and Gale J. Moore (right).