A view of Howard Hughes (left), California Governor Frank Merriam (center, front), and Will Hays (center, back) at a banquet held for Howard Hughes in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

From the Nye County, Nevada Photograph Collection (PH-00221) -- Series III. Beatty, Nevada -- Subseries III.F. Palsgrove Family. The Town Hall was originally the Miners' Union Building in Rhyolite, Nevada.

Date stamped on back of photo: April 3, 1947. Transcribed from attached press release: "HUGHES FLIES DUPLICATE OF CRASH PLANE CULVER CITY, Calif., April 5 -- Howard Hughes, famed flier-industrialist, today test-piloted the plane pictured here, a duplicate of the XF-11 photo-reconnaissance ship which he nearly lost his life in an accident last July 7. He designed and built the plane for the Army Air forces in conjunction with the Air Materiel Command engineers. He has recovered from the injuries sustained last year when the freak propeller trouble dashed the original XF-11 to earth. As usual, he today took personal responsibility for the first test flight of the new plane." The actual flying date is April 4, 1947.