Description printed on photograph's accompanying strip of paper: "Howard Hughes landing at Fairbanks 8:18 p.m. after flight from Moscow in 12 hrs., 17 mins. - distance 2457 mi. Distance flown from New York: 11, 188 mi. Elapsed time from New York, 72 hrs., 58 min. Flight time, 54 hrs., 39 min."
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.