Howard Hughes sits at the controls of his 400,000 pound Flying Boat just a day prior to its first tests in the Los Angeles Harbor in California. The aircraft was 219 feet long with a wing span of 320 feet.

An up close view of Howard Hughes sitting in a car and waving at the crowd during a parade held for Hughes in Chicago.

Photographs from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Creative Services Records (2010s) (PH-00388-05). Client: UNLV Alumni Association

From the Nye County, Nevada Photograph Collection (PH-00221) -- Series III. Beatty, Nevada -- Subseries III.F. Palsgrove Family. The Town Hall was originally the Miners' Union Building in Rhyolite, Nevada.

An unidentified man handing Howard Hughes a certificate during a banquet dedicated to Howard Hughes in Texas.

The black and white view of the Hughes H-1 Racer in a hangar.

Howard Hughes at a parade held for himself in Chicago.