Howard Hughes (second from left) standing in front of the experimental helicopter XH-17, Flying Crane in October 1952. From left to right: Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Howard Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson, Air Research and Development Headquarters, Baltimore; Gale J. Moore, Pilot; and Chal Bowen, Flight Engineer/Co-pilot.

From the UNLV University Libraries Photographs of the Development of the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada (PH-00394). Part of the collection documents the entire 19 mile length of the north/south Eastern Avenue / Civic Center Drive alignment. This photograph was captured in the section of Civic Center Drive between Las Vegas Boulevard and Lake Mead Boulevard.

Transcribed from attachment to photo: "NEW LONG-RANGE PLANE ANNOUNCED CULVER CITY, CALIF., The FX-11 took off today on its first test flight. One of the world's fastest long-range photographic planes, it was designed and built by Howard Hughes in conjunction with Air Materiel Command engineers. It has a wing spread of 101 feet, 4 inches, and is powered by two 3000-horsepower radial engines with eight-bladed contra-rotating propellers. Army officials said it can attain a speed of more than 400 miles per hour and has a ceiling of more than 40,000 feet." Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Howard Hughes sits in the cockpit of the XF-11, a reconnaissance plane that Hughes built and designed in conjunction with Air Materiel Command engineers. Hughes is preparing for his first test flight in Culver City, California July 7, 1947."