Transcribed from attached press release: "HUGHES ROCK BIT TEST In a block-long laboratory at Houston, Texas, the Hughes Tool Company can simulate oil drilling conditions anywhere in the world. Here a Hughes bit is tested on a hard formation. Howard Hughes' father invented the rock bit in 1908 and the resulting business became the cornerstone on which Howard Hughes built his fabulous industrial empire in motion pictures, air transportation, aeronautical research and design, aircraft manufacture, electronics, armament and brewing."

Transcribed from attached press release: "Howard Hughes, right, noted aircraft designer and industrialist is shown for the first time on the flight deck of the famed Hughes flying boat, which he designed and built. It is the largest airplane in the world. The plane is now nearing completion on Terminal Island, in Los Angeles-Long Bay Harbor, May 12, 1947." Los Angeles Harbor is now known as Long Beach Harbor, California.

A view of Howard Hughes conducting a test run of his Flying Boat in San Pedro, California.

L-R: Alexander Troyanovsky (Soviet Ambassador to the U.S.) and Howard Hughes at the Moscow Airdrome, Moscow, Russia, July 12, 1938. Original item may indicate alternate date: 7/2/38.

Transcribed from stamp on back of photo: "June 14, 1946; Hughes Aircraft Photo." A section of Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" or "Flying Boat" being moved (with a police escort) from the Hughes Aircraft plant in Culver City, California to Terminal Island in the Los Angeles Harbor where the plane was assembled in June of 1946.