Howard Hughes' 400,000 pound Flying Boat flying 70 feet above the water for one-mile during taxi tests over the Los Angeles Harbor with Hughes at the controls. Hughes had scheduled taxi tests only for the 219-foot long ship, but it "felt so good" on the second taxi test run at 95 miles per hour that he took it off the water on the third and final run, which is shown in the photo.
Howard Hughes in the Lockheed 14 in Los Angeles, California. Typed on a piece of paper attached to the image: "Howard Hughes off on first leaf of flight to Paris. Los Angeles, Cal. -- Howard Hughes, Millionaire oil man and speed flyer, at the controls of his huge Lockheed "Flying Laboratory" as it took off from here for its leisurely flight to New York, from where Hughes and his crew will fly to Paris and perhaps around the world. 7/4/1938 Credit line (ACME)."