Howard Hughes (second from left) standing under the blade of the XH-17, Flying Crane with L-R: Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson, Air Research and Development Headquarters; Gale. J. Moore, Pilot; Chal Bowen?, Flight Engineer/Co-Pilot; unidentified pilot. Photographers are seen in the foreground.
Oral history interview with Harry Hall conducted by Dennis McBride on June 20, 1986 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. Hall discusses how the hope of work on the dam encouraged his move to Nevada with his mother and stepfather. He then talks at some length about living in a tent in Ragtown, the various illegal bootlegging establishments along the dirt road running between Las Vegas and Boulder City, Nevada, and working on the dam. He continues talking about working conditions, the heat, and the labor strike at the dam in August, 1931.
Along with the information is this card entitled "Record Breaker." It reads: "First product of Hughes Aircraft Company was Howard Hughes' uniquely designed H-1. Experts said it was farther ahead of its time than any plane built since the Wright brothers'. In 1935 Hughes flew the H-1 to a world's land plane speed record of 352 mph, many years before any military pursuit planes attained this speed, and in 1937 Hughes flew the H-1 from Los Angeles to New York in seven hours, 28 minutes, a record which stood for eight years. The H-1 was the first plane with a smooth metal surface, leading edge air duct intakes, jet thrust exhaust, bell-shaped cowling, drooping ailerons, and the first to have a power-driven retractable landing gear. -0- "