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School at Newport News, Virginia, for advanced instruction, where Victor Carlstrom was his instructor. Following this Hodgdon returned to Boston.

The new Whittemore-Hamm airplane was ready for tests in September and Hodgdon, while still attending Tufts College, flew this plane for the company actively until April, 1918.

At this time he was trying to enroll in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, but was rejected due to imperfect vision. As a result he enlisted as a private in the Artillery, and was stationed at Fort Standish, Boston Harbor. One month after enlistment, the Dean of Tufts College arranged to have Hodgdon transferred to the Corps of Engineers, where he was commissioned [[strikethrough]] as [[/strikethrough]] a Second Lieutenant at Camp Lee, Virginia. Later he was transferred to the Air Corps and was released, with reserve duty, as World War I ended.

Hodgdon returned to Boston and resumed piloting for Whittemore-Hamm. Their airplane proved to be an excellent flyer and during 1919 Hodgdon carried passengers, trained pupils, gave exhibitions at fairs and made several noteworthy cross-country flights. Among these was a flight from Boston to Atlantic City, New Jersey, on May 16, 1919, carrying R. J. Dale as passenger. They made one stop at Central Park, Long Island, for fuel. The total distance was 340 miles, in three hours, fifty-five minutes flying time. This fine flight won Hodgdon second place in the Boston Globe Trophy Race in connection with the second Pan-American Aeronatic Exposition which was held in Atlantic City from May 1st to 31st. The trophy was for the best flight between Boston and Atlantic City in either direction during the month of May. The