A front view of HK-1, Hughes Flying Boat, the world's largest plane, which successfully completed its first flight, shown in the photo. The eight 3,000 horsepower engine lifted the craft from the waters of Los Angeles Harbor with Hughes at the controls. The huge wings, with a span of 320 feet carried the aircraft for one mile at a 100-mile per hour speed before Hughes put it back on the water.

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.

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.

Transcribed from attached press release: "HUGHES TEST-PILOTS SECOND XF-11. CULVER CITY, Calif., April 5. Preparatory to making its first flight test today, Howard Hughes, famed flier-industrialist, is shown in the cockpit of the second XF-11 sister ship to the plane in which he almost lost his life in an accident last July 7. Hughes designed and built the ship, one of the world's fastest long-range reconnaissance planes for the Army Air forces in conjunction with the Air Materiel Command engineers."

Hughes' aircraft (the XF-11) sitting on the tarmac before its first test flight in Culver City, California in April of 1947. Newspaper clipping taped to the back of the image reads: "#11, Long-Range Plane Completed. Culver City, Calif. -- The new Hughes XF-11 is a very fast photographic plane with a ceiling of more than 40,000 feet. It has a pressurized cabin, making it unnecessary for the crew to use oxygen masks. It is shown here before it made its first test flight."

Transcribed from attached press release: "Wide World Photos Please Credit A-63899 (Part of Series) $58,000 LONG BEACH, CAL. A view of the hull of Howard Hughes new $20,000,000 cargo flying boat at the pontoon bridge, ready to be moved from Long Beach to Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor, there is a graving dock it will be assembled with other parts of the ship."

Press Release attached to photo: "HUGHES HERCULES READY FOR TESTS. LONG BEACH, CAL. An aerial view shows Howard Hughes' giant plywood seaplane Hercules ready for taxi tests at Long Beach. The initial flight of the plane, which cost $20,000,000 and will seat 700 persons, will not be attempted until early in 1947. ACME 10/13/46." Los Angeles Harbor, Terminal Island are now known as Long Beach.