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In May, 1914, Benedict announced he was giving up flying to go into the automobile business in his hometown of Binghamton, New York. He was not able to forget aviation, however, and in the spring of 1915 became pilot for the Lorain Hydro and Aero Company of Lorain, Ohio. About June 1st he started a summer season contract for the Lorain Company at Cedar Point, Ohio, using a Benoist flying boat on Lake Erie. There he put on daily exhibition flights, carried passengers and made charter flights to Sandusky, Put-in-Bay, and nearby resorts. He has a busy summer and remained at Cedar Point until late September, carrying hundreds of passengers.

During the winter months of 1915 and into 1916, Benedict was instructor for the Thomas Southern Flying School at St. Augustine, Florida. Early in September, 1916, he became instructor for the Staten Island Aviation School at Graham Beach, Staten Island, New York, with a Benoist flying boat. He remained there for several months. As World War I approached in the early spring months of 1917, Benedict tried to enlist in the United States Flying Service, but was rejected because of flat feet. Dismayed, he went to Canada and enlisted in the Royal Flying Force, where he was accepted at once. He was sent to Toronto for advanced training, and after completing the course was sent to England. From there he was transferred to the British flying Units in the war zone where he flew combat planes with an observer until the Armistice. After the Armistice, while still in Europe, he contracted influenza from which tuberculosis resulted, and he remained in the hospital in England for about a year.

Upon being discharged as cured, he returned to the United States and was employed by the National Biscuit Company at Syracuse, New York. He was so anxious to get established and make up for lost time that he overworked and his tubercular trouble returned, forcing him to enter the Onendagua Sanatorium. He was there for a time and was then moved to the Biggs Memorial Hospital at Ithaca,