大象传媒

Part one of an edited oral history interview with Mr. John Crawley conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum.

鈥業 was born in Bedford in November 1925 at St.Miniver Road. I was born there so I am a Bedfordian.

Well of course it was wartime and I think nearly every young lad, I was 14 years old, was pretty interested in aeroplanes at that time, I mean they were everywhere. They were even more prolific than they are today and of course there was also the excitement of a possible German air raid.

Bedford School
During the war at Bedford School the classrooms on the ground floor all had great heavy timber uprights to support the ceilings. And they had sandbags up - oh I don鈥檛 know - about a 10 feet high sandbag wall around the windows and if there was an air raid alarm then we had to go to these classrooms. Each class had a designated air raid shelter but of course the way the school worked, I mean you wouldn鈥檛 have your own classroom, for Maths you鈥檇 perhaps go to one room and then for Geography you鈥檇 go to another. So if there was an air raid warning you'd most probably stay in the same classroom rather than all charging around to get to your own particular classroom.

We had a school from Jersey billeted with Bedford School, they came over and they were integrated with us. I remember in my class we had a decent chap called Anderson. There was a certain amount of, I can鈥檛 quite recall, but I think there were certain things they did on their own but I certainly know that Anderson was in my class. I cannot be quite sure but I鈥檓 pretty sure they integrated because you鈥檇 always know one of the Jersey lads because I recollect they had a different coloured jacket to us. But we all got on very well together but of course you would do in wartime.

The 大象传媒 Orchestra would rehearse at Bedford School. I don鈥檛 know on what particular day, but they would rehearse in the afternoon while we were in classes. It was generally, they tried to arrange it so that they didn鈥檛 interfere with classes but I can remember the odd occasion were we would be trying to do school work and there would be Stamford Robinson in his shirt sleeves. The 大象传媒 would be rehearsing in the afternoon before they did a live broadcast in the evening. On a number of occasions I went back to school to see these live broadcasts. And you know when you are sitting listening to the radio, obviously you can鈥檛 see the performance only hear it, so you didn鈥檛 see him perspiring in his shirt sleeves and then when it was dead saying 鈥楴ow for God鈥檚 sake, come on! We鈥檝e got to get this 鈥� so and so 鈥︹�� all this in a live broadcast. It was always fascinating to see it, how it was going on. But Bedford School Hall was used a tremendous amount of times, I think they used Bedford School Hall more than anywhere in Bedford. I know all the 大象传媒 were in the hotels in Bushmead Avenue in the half of Bushmead Avenue nearest the river there was a number of private hotels which were requisitioned and the 大象传媒 was put into those.

Bedford was one of the first towns to receive the standard one kilo German incendiary bomb that was fitted with an explosive charge. The normal way of fighting an incendiary bomb was to carry a bucket of water and a stirrup pump laying on one鈥檚 chest directing the water onto the bomb or tipping a bucket of sand on them. After a predetermined period the bomb then exploded with detrimental effects to the fire fighter. The first night they dropped these a lot fell in Bushmead Avenue and all the 大象传媒 chaps were up in the Park putting them out but luckily nobody was killed so they couldn鈥檛 have all been explosive. On that night an incendiary bomb fell in the garden of my future wife鈥檚 home, it went in and didn't explode. My future father-in-law told the Police and nothing was done about it and so to my knowledge it is still there. I know exactly where but nobody was ever interested. Whether it鈥檚 an explosive one and it鈥檚 still got the high explosive charge or whether it鈥檚 just the simple magnesium one kilo I don鈥檛 know. Would be interesting to dig it up and find out.

Aircraft Recognition
Well if you are an enthusiast it was just a matter of reading so many papers and books. There were so many books on aircraft recognition and of course you had the real things flying around you like bees round a honey pot so it wasn鈥檛 difficult. I was very, very interested and I became, even though I say it myself, quite a 鈥榞en kiddy鈥� as regards aircraft recognition. I was a member of the National Roof Spotters Association where I qualified for three National Certificates on Aircraft Recognition. My family鈥檚 business were Main Ford Dealers and it was in late 1942 I happened to be in the showroom and Captain Starey from Milton Ernest Hall - he was a Captain in the Royal Flying Corp in the First World War, he happened to come in about something on business. I got talking to him and he brought aeroplanes into the conversation and I think he was a bit surprised that I was able to talk to him on very near equal terms on modern aircraft. He said, 鈥榃here have you got all your knowledge from?鈥� I said, 鈥極h, I鈥檓 just an enthusiast. I鈥檓 an aircraft recognition enthusiast.鈥� I told him I鈥檇 got this certificate and that and he said, 鈥楢h, you are just the man we are looking for!鈥� I said, 鈥極h, yes!鈥� He said, 鈥榃ell, I鈥檓 the Commanding Officer of 134 Squadron of Bedford Air Training Corp and we haven鈥檛 got anybody to instruct Air Cadets on aircraft recognition.鈥� He said, 鈥榃ould you be interested?鈥� So I said, 鈥極h, well I can鈥檛 think of any reason why not.鈥� So that was the start of it.

I went along as a civilian to start with and I must admit my first appearance was a bit nerve racking because from memory there were something like 25 Cadets and every other Officer in the Squadron. There was about five or six Officers all piled in round the back and there was I looking at 25 Cadets and all the Officers all sitting there looking expectantly at me! I thought, 鈥極h, my God what have I let myself in for?鈥� But anyway once I started of course I was well into my stride and it went down very well apparently. So he said, 鈥極h, yes that鈥檚 fine. I think we鈥檇 better put you in uniform.鈥� So I said, 鈥榃ell, entirely up to you.鈥� 鈥楤ut,鈥� I said 鈥業 have no wish whatsoever to get involved in square bashing or any another details.鈥� I said, 鈥楤asically I鈥檓 medically unfit because I have a double curvature of the spine and that鈥檚 the only reason I鈥檓 not in the ATC waiting to join the RAF, because I鈥檝e been exempted.鈥� He said, 鈥極h, no that鈥檚 alright鈥� so they made me a Corporal and I was Sergeant about a month later and then a Flight Sergeant a month later than that. I stayed a Flight Sergeant until - oh, I think it was towards the end of the war - anyway I know I had to go to Cambridge and I was commissioned as a Pilot Officer and then became a Flying Officer. Of course my duties then had expanded more than somewhat and I was spending perhaps four nights a week down at ATC Head Quarters. In those days the Head Quarters were at Castle Lane. The Head Quarters where as you go up Castle Lane from St.Paul鈥檚 Square it was half way up on the right opposite Well鈥檚 warehouses, they are not there now having been pulled down. But you had to go up an outside staircase in the yard, well the staircase was under cover, but you鈥檇 go up and we were on the first floor. There was a NCOs room, a large classroom, an Officers room, the CO鈥檚 office and another classroom. Also in there was a kitchen with a serving hatch which wasn鈥檛 being used at this time.

As I say I used to go along purely for aircraft recognition and then I became so involved and interested I was doing a class one night a week and building model aircraft, elementary theory of flight, which I鈥檇 picked up. Later I gave elementary gliding instruction because the boys were going over to RAF Henlow being taught to glide. At that time I鈥檇 had a fair bit of experience of handling aircraft, not as a pilot but experience and so I could give them the gist of what the controls did. So, yes I was getting very involved and then one day the CO called me into his office and said, 鈥楢h, Crawley,鈥� he said, 鈥業 think I鈥檝e got a job for you!鈥� I said, 鈥極h, yes Sir!鈥� he said 鈥榳ell, it might be up your street on the other hand it might not.鈥� I thought, tell me more, Sir. He said, 鈥業鈥檝e had a request from a Mrs. Monk and she is the Commandant of the Girls Training Corp and they meet at the Shire Hall on a Friday night. She wondered if one of my people could go along and instruct her girls on aircraft recognition and since that is your particular forte I鈥檓 offering you the job.鈥� I said, 鈥極h.鈥� He said, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 look very enamoured鈥� I said, 鈥榳ell, yes, alright Sir, yes I don鈥檛 mind, I鈥檒l do it.鈥� Well of course I wasn鈥檛 slow in coming forward because after a comparatively short while I suggested to Mrs. Monk, the Commandant that 鈥楳a鈥檃m perhaps it would be possible for some of your girls to come and run a canteen for us at the Air Training Corp Head Quarters鈥�. I said, 鈥榃e鈥檝e got all the facilities of what used to be a canteen with the sink and the cooker and means of boiling kettles, but we have no one to run it.鈥� 鈥極h,鈥� she said, 鈥榯hat would be a good idea. That would give the girls practical experience. We could work up a rota and have four girls at a time鈥� and that鈥檚 what happened. At the time it was blackout and I discovered that one of the girls lived about an eighth of a mile further up Goldington Road than I did and so we got to know each other. Well of course, the long and the short of it is that she is now my wife and has been for 54 years! So the Air Training Corp and the Girls Training Corp did have something to do with my future!

Mobile Section of the Special Constabulary
My father was in the Special Constabulary and being in the motor trade he organised a mobile section of which he became Commandant. Of course this was quite easy because he detailed four of the company鈥檚 cars to be used for police duties and he enrolled four or five of our employees. I remember there was Walter Blott, who was one of the prewar sales staff who was still working (he was some form of relation to the Blott family that had the ladies outfitters at the top of the High Street). There was Mr. Todd, Mr. Ball and a number of other employees, they all became Special Constables and were each allocated a car. Then he recruited various other people in the motor trade to come in so that when there was an air raid message, Yellow, as they used to be - the Police Station used to phone through and just say, 鈥楢ir raid message, Yellow.鈥� Whereupon father would then report to the Police Station as would his mobile Police. Then if there was an incident, i.e. a bomb dropping or parachute mine or anything happening the Police would have back up by these extra cars, so that was his involvement. I do remember one day he鈥檇 been out with some of his colleagues and they came back and as they were coming back along Goldington Road they called in home for a cup of tea. It had been a pretty rough night as they鈥檇 have been out five or six hours. I know when I went to see them off I was absolutely fascinated to see but also so annoyed that I couldn鈥檛 get a bit of it - but they had a canister of a flare container sticking out of one of the back windows of the car with all the parachute loose in the car.

He led quite an interesting life from that point of view because he would go to the Police Station. He worked during the day and played Policeman. The routine was he鈥檇 go from the office and have dinner at The Swan Hotel so many nights a week and then he鈥檇 go down the Police Station where he stayed perhaps until midnight and then come home. If there was an air raid warning or if we knew that there were German aeroplanes about then he wouldn鈥檛 come home until the area was clear.鈥�

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