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.
The black and white view from above of the Lockheed 14 aircraft after arriving in Minneapolis. The aircraft is preparing for a part of Howard Hughes' Around the World flight.
The black and white view from above of the Lockheed 14 aircraft after arriving in Minneapolis. The aircraft is preparing for a part of Howard Hughes' Around the World flight.
Description given with photo: "Hercules Wing Squeezes Through Town Redondo Beach, Calif. - School children throng to watch the 34-ton wing section of Howard Hughes' Hercules, world's largest flying boat, as it is cautiously engineered on house-moving dollies through Redondo Beach, Calif., on the way to specially built $200,000 dock at Terminal Island, Calif. Creditline (ACME). 6/13/46."