Customer Reviews

Call Me Pat: The Autobiography of the Man Howard Hughes Chose to Lead Hughes Aircraft

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Now that Martin Scorsese is releasing his long-planned biopic THE AVIATOR, the life oh Howard Hughes starring Leo di Caprio from TITANIC as Hughes, expect a new flood of interest in the mysterious relict and his weird ways, especially towards the end of his life. Expect parallel interest in CALL ME PAT, a title from about ten years ago newly re-issued to meet the boom in Hughes studies. Hyland was a Navy radioman and a brave sailor indeed, whose exploits in the service deserve even more expansion than they merit here. Funny how the patriotic among us get short shrift while the merely wealthy, like Hughes, garner all the attention. By the end of the 1950s, Hyland (charmingly called "Pat") had taken over the operations of Hughes Aircraft while his boss, HH, was battling it out on every front with his movie star wife, Jean Peters.

Until 1980 this remained Hyland's job, not only his vocation, but his avocation. Between him and Hughes a mysterious bond remained. Hughes had stepped away from the glamorous, Hepburn and Gardner and RKO life by the time Hyland became CEO oh Hughes Aircraft, and so this wonderful book will be a kind of sequel to the Scorsese effort, which insyead concentrates on the less dismal, exciting and earlier Hollywood years and features a cameo by Gwen Stefani of No Doubt as Jean Harlow, the tragic platinum blonde whom Hughes directed in HELLS ANGELS and sought to dominate elsewhere.

This is a great book. I originally stumbled across it at the book store in the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I am eagerly awaiting a Kindle edition so I can read it all over again while traveling. What a gem of a book. It gives you insight into exactly what it was like being the CEO of Hughes Aircraft. Whether you are a corporate manager or an engineer in the defense business you will not be disappointed with this book. I am an engineer but actually enjoyed the insight into the business aspects of running a very large company. My favorite part is when Pat initially takes over Hughes Aircraft and can't get the CFO to give him financial numbers...read it for yourself to see how Pat Hyland handled this situation.