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. The airship photographing the scene is shown by shadow.
Date stamped on back of photo: Nov 2, 1947. Transcribed from attached press release: "IN THE AIR Hughes Flying boat, with Howard Hughes at the controls, takes to the air at Los Angeles Harbor November 2, 1947. LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov. 2 - - Howard Hughes' 400,000-pound flying boat, world's largest plane, in the air on its first flight. The mammoth aircraft today flew one mile at a height of 70 feet over 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, as shown here, on the third and final run. The super plane's air speed was 100 miles per hour. Take-off speed was 95 miles per hour. Hughes termed the tests exceptionally successful. The eight-engine behemoth, launched yesterday off Terminal Island, passed its tests today in view of thousands on the shore and in small craft near the test area."
Press release attached to back of photo: "A roughneck fits a new Hughes Jet bit into the drill collar preparatory to running the drill stem into the hold. In 1953 more than 500,000 rock bits produced by the Hughes Tool Company of Houston, Texas, were used in the United States alone. The invention of the rock bit by Howard R. Hughes, Sr., made it possible to drill far deeper into the earth beyond the shallow oil deposits which are now practically exhausted. Without rotary drilling equipment of this kind the world might revert to a horse and buggy economy."
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.
The black and white view of Howard Hughes exiting his Lockheed 14 aircraft after performing the final landing on the Round the World flight at Floyd Bennett Airport, New York. Description printed on photograph's accompanying sheet of paper: "World fliers greeted on arrival. Floyd Bennett Airport--- Minutes after he and his companions set their plane down here, completing a dramatic dash around the world, Howard Hughes, wearing the same battered hat, his face covered by a heavy stubble, stepped from the plane, to be greeted by Mayor La Guardia, in the photo are, left to right: Ed Lund, flight mechanic, Howard Hughes, Thomas Thurlow, navigator; Harry P. M. Connor, navigator, and Mayor La Guardia. Credit Line (ACME) 7/14/38"