Command operations staff. He was selected to serve in the Far East as a staff officer to Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory. However, he requested a return to active service after his younger brother was killed, and took command of No. 357 (Special Duties) Squadron at RAF Jessore near Calcutta in December 1944, flying Liberators, Dakotas and Lysanders in support of SOE's Force 136 in Burma and other resistance groups in Thailand and Malaya. Fortunately for Hodges, this meant that he did not fly to India with Leigh-Mallory: the aircraft crashed in the Alps, killing all on board. Hodges received a Bar to his DSO in October 1945 for his services in the Far East. Post-war After the war, he joined the RAF Staff College in Haifa in 1945, and then the Joint Services Staff College at Latimer in 1947, before a stint at the Air Ministry from 1949 to 1952, and then at Bomber Command. He was promoted to wing commander in 1950. He commanded the RAF team of three Canberras in the London to New Zealand Air Race in October 1953. He was in the lead until he suffered from engine problems, and ended fourth. He commanded RAF Marham from 1956, while the RAF was converted to V bombers. He received an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1953, became a group captain in 1957, and advanced to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1958. He was Assistant Commandant of the RAF College in Cranwell from 1959 to 1961, and became an air commodore in 1961. He attended the Imperial Defence College in 1963, was promoted to air vice marshal, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and then served at SHAPE headquarters. He was promoted to air marshal in 1968, and advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. After serving as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operations) from 1965, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Air Support Command from 1968 and Air Member for Personnel from 1970, he was promoted to air chief marshal in 1971. He served as NATO Deputy Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe and as Air Aide-de-Camp to the Queen from 1973 to 1976. He retired from the RAF in 1976. He was a director of Pilkington Brothers (optical division) from 1979 to 1983, and a governor of BUPA from 1987. He