Raymond Noriega Moraga was killed in action on 10 June 1944. He was a fighter pilot with the USAAF 365th Group, aka the “Hell Hawks”, where he was a member of the 386th Fighter Squadron. This report and others like it on the RAF Beaulieu website are researched and published in order to keep memories alive of all the brave men and women who served at Beaulieu both during the war and in the immediate post-war period. Some, like Raymond, gave their life in the process.
I don’t want these people to be forgotten. Any content on here has been written with the best intentions, and with the utmost respect of those who gave their lives. If you have anything you can add to the story of Captain Raymond Noriega Moraga, I would love to hear from you.
This is Raymond’s story.

Captain Raymond Noriega Moraga
Raymond Noriega Moraga was born on 24 December 1919 in Tempe, Arizona. This Christmas Eve baby was one of seven children of a second generation Mexican couple, also both born in Arizona. His father Carmen worked as a truck driver for a grain mill, and later as a watchman. His mother was also called Carmen.
Raymond graduated from Tempe High School, and then went on to attend Arizona State College, also in Tempe. During college he worked part-time as a driver, briefly following in his father’s footsteps. Whilst at ASC, Raymond became a student member of “Los Conquistadores”, the first official Mexican American student organisation at the college.
The organisation was set up in 1937, and upon its formation, documented that:
“We, the Spanish-Speaking Students of Arizona State College at Tempe, in order to develop a better understanding between ourselves and others; to gain greater social, cultural, and intellectual values through our association with others; to interest others in a college education, especially those of our own nationality, do hereby organize this club. The name of this club shall be ‘Los Conquistadores.’ Said club shall exist on the campus of Arizona State College at Tempe.”
It was through this group that Raymond and other students from Los Conquistadores would become friends with members of a civil rights organization in Phoenix, the Latin American Club. The two organisations aimed to combat the racism and discrimination against Mexicans and Mexican Americans in south Phoenix and Tempe.
Raymond was rightly proud of his Mexican heritage. Both his parents were Mexican, as were all four of his grandparents. He was also very patriotic towards his home of the United States, a view held by others in the Los Conquistadores. In the 1950s, a member of the college group said:
“We were Mexican Americans. What we wanted to do was empathize that we were Americans first, and of Mexican descent, second. We were proud to be of Mexican descent, yes. But we were born in the United States, not Mexico.”
It’s clear this was also the case in the 1940s. Two of Raymond’s Los Conquistadores contemporaries at ASC would also be killed whilst serving their country. 1st Lieutenant Orlando Contreras Loera joined the USAAF 340th Bombardment Group and was killed in in an air crash whilst working as a bombardier in a B-25 Mitchell over Sicily in Italy. Sergeant Fred Carpeña Saucedo was also killed in action. He was a tail gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress that was shot down by Luftwaffe fighters on return from a mission to target Landsberg au Lech in Germany.
Raymond’s own military service started in September 1940 when he enlisted in the US army’s field artillery via the National Guard. By 1942 he wanted a change so transferred to the United States Army Air Force to be trained as a fighter pilot. He joined the 365th Fighter Group (nicknamed the “Hell Hawks”) in September 1943, where he eventually would reach the rank of captain as part of the group’s 386th Fighter Squadron.

Two months after joining the 365th Fighter Group, Raymond and the rest of the Hell Hawks set sail to England. They embarked onboard the Queen Elizabeth along with 15,000 troops, avoided German U-boats, and arrived in England on 23 December 1943, to be transferred to Gosfield airfield in Essex.
Raymond and the other pilots entered an intense period of training during the harsh English winter. By February, the Hell Hawks were ready for their first combat mission over Europe, escorting B-17 Flying Fortresses… and Raymond would take part in it. At 0500 hours on 22 February 1944, Raymond and twenty four colleagues were awoken at Gosfield Airfield by whistles and had a hurried breakfast. Despite this early start, they would not climb into the cockpits of their P-47 Thunderbolts until 1052 a.m. Raymond would fly as wing man to Lieutenant Colonel Lance Call, the group commander. As it happened, the mission was relatively uneventful, with one pilot complaining how it had been “nothing but a training mission”.
Things would not always be this calm for Raymond Moraga and his colleagues, particularly once the Hell Hawks left Gosfield for RAF Beaulieu. After arriving at their new airfield in the New Forest on the south coast of England on 5 March 1944, they would experience a lot of action following another intensive training period.
One such mission occurred on 13 April 1944. On this day, Raymond earned the nickname “Eagle Eye” after spotting an enemy aircraft on the ground at an airfield. He saw it through a break in the clouds, went into a twenty five degree dive, and at six hundred yards opened fire and destroyed it. On his way back to his formation, he even had time to take shots at a German flak tower. During his time flying with the Hell Hawks, Raymond Noriega Moraga was credited with two kills, and partly attributed to a third of a kill with two other pilots.
But it was on his thirtieth mission on 10 June 1944, that tragedy would strike. This was to be Raymond’s final mission, flying in Republic P-4D Thunderbolt (42-26324). He’d named the aircraft “Miss Champayne”. Raymond was one of thirty six pilots who took off from RAF Beaulieu airfield at 1654 p.m. He usually flew as wingman for Colonel Lance Call, but on this mission was wingman for Lieutenant Colonel Robert Coffey. This was the third mission flown by the 365th Fighter Group that day.

The thirty six P-47 Thunderbolts had been sent on a patrol over Cherbourg in France. It was to prove extremely eventful. The first action they encountered was when four Messerschmitt Bf 109s bounced them south-east of Le Havre at 1815 p.m. at 14,000 feet. During the ensuing dogfight, two of the Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed. At 1850 p.m. the Hell Hawks formation was again attacked, this time by four Focke-Wulf Fw 190s north of Caen at 1,500 feet. Three of the enemy were destroyed.
At 1910 p.m., the situation became more serious. Fifteen Messerschmitts attacked a group of four Thunderbolts at 10,000 feet. One enemy was killed. It was within this time frame that Raymond was lost when during a melee he was seen to take evasive action and disappear into a cloud bank.
He was not seen again by his colleagues.
Following their return to RAF Beaulieu (USAAF Station 408), fellow pilot Captain William Cornell, reported the following:

“I was leading a flight of four aircraft in which Lt. Moraga was number three man. We were bounced by fifteen (15) ME 109s in Le Havre area. While taking evasive action Lt. Moraga and I went in opposite directions. A short time later I called him over R/T and asked if he was O.K. He answered ‘Roger Dodger’. I neither saw not heard him again”.
The USAAF reports held by the US National Archives contain this note shown below, which suggest a rough location to the crash site. I don’t know for certain how accurate that is. I also don’t know the circumstances behind how his body was found.

Raymond Noriega Moraga was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. Once his body was recovered, he was finally repatriated to the United States. He is buried in Saint Francis Cemetery Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona.
If you can help with any further details, please contact me.
References and credits
- The United States National Archives
- The History of the Hell Hawks by Charles R. Johnson.
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/162092410/raymond-noriega-moraga
- https://emuseum.tempe.gov/people/6918/raymond-n-moraga
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/262599273757264 (Christine Marin)
- https://barriozona.com/a-short-history-of-los-conquistadores-of-arizona-state-university-tempe/
- https://ww2fallen100.blogspot.com/2019/08/ww2-fallen-b-25-bombardier-orlando-loera.html
- https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/fred-c-saucedo
- https://www.hellhawks.org/history.html