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aerial photographs, [[crossed out]] and he [[/crossed out// Shaw dove it into the ground and smashed it, so Hodgdon did not flying that year. During the summer he worked to earn money to contribute toward his tuition at Tufts College, Engineering School, which he entered that fall.

Through the summer of 1915 Hodgdon and Sr. C. F. Gomez rebuilt his wrecked Curtiss-type plane at Somerville, Massachusetts, then took it to the Squantum flying field intending to fly it, but instead sold it [[crossed out]] at once [[/crossed out]] to C. C. Caldwell, who shipped it to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, where he crashed it into the surf. As a result Hodgdon again did no flying [[crossed out]] that [[/crossed out]] for another year.

Early in 1916, Dr. W. C. Whittemore and W. E. Hamm of Dover, Massachusetts, brought a small monoplane to Squantum Field for tests and engaged Hodgdon to fly it for them. It was powered by an 18 [[crossed out]] H. P. [[/crossed out]] h.p. 2-cylinder opposed French-built Clement-Bayard engine. [[crossed out]] and [[/crossed out]] Hodgdon made [[crossed out]] numerous [[/crossed out]] many straightaway extended hops [[crossed out]] for them there [[/crossed out]] that summer with this machine, but it was too underpowered for successful flight or attempted turns. 

In the fall of 1916 Whittemore and Hamm organized a firm and started building a large 2-seat tandem tractor biplane to be powered by engines of 90 to 150 h.p. Hodgon was retained as their pilot, but since he had not flown planes of that horsepower, in March, 1917, they sent him to the Curtiss School at Newport News, Virginia, for advanced instruction, where Victor Carlstrom was his instructor. Following this [[crossed out]] work there [[/crossed out]] Hodgon returned to Boston.

The new Whittemore-Hamm [[crossed out]] plan [[/crossed out]] airplane was ready for tests in September and Hodgdon, while still attending Tufts Colelge, 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 as a 2nd Lieutenant at Camp Lee, Virginia. Later he was transferred to the Air Corps and was released, with reverse duty,