Moseley was born in Boise, Idaho, and attended Long Beach High School and the University of Southern California (1914–1917).
[1][4] In 1920, Lieutenant Moseley won the first Pulitzer Air Race, flying a Verville-Packard R-1 at a then record speed of about 178 miles per hour (286 km/h).
[3] In 1924, he organized and commanded an air unit of the California National Guard based either in Los Angeles[1] or Santa Monica.
[6] With war looming on the horizon, General Hap Arnold invited Moseley, Oliver Parks and Theopholis Lee to Washington in October 1938.
He asked them to set up flying schools across the country to take the burden of primary training off the shoulders of the Air Corps; all three agreed, even though Arnold admitted that "I didn't have any money but was sure I could get the support of Congress in the next appropriations bill"[7] and the cost to each would be several hundred thousand dollars.