Description given with photograph: "Howard Hughes tests the Hughes plane. Seattle--Howard Hughes (right), millionaire aviation enthusiast and record holder, shown with Edmund T. Allen, Boeing test engineer, before they made a recent test flight in a Boeing-built Stratoliner. The huge machine was equipped with extra fuel tanks for the test. Hughes did not reveal the reasons for his interest in the four-motored, 30 passenger plane, designed for substratosphere flight."

Typed onto a piece of paper attached to the image: "As Hughes Visited Washington To Thank Cordell Hull, Washing, D. C. -- Police escorting Howard Hughes holding hat, through the admiring throungs at the Washington Airport as the intrepid flyer and his four companions on his Round-The-World flight came to the Capital, July 21st, to personally thank Secretary of State Cordell Hull for his cooperation in clearing their take-offs on their flight. Credit Line (ACME) 7/21/38."