LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Editor's Note: Langley Air Force Base is steeped in rich, military history. The base is named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, a Massachusetts native born in 1834, who had a wide-ranging career including conducting studies of heavier-than-air flight. The base was commissioned in 1916 by the U.S. Army to be used as an aviation field and a site to conduct aeronautical experiments. This series focuses on the interesting history behind the names of various buildings and streets around Langley.
Commissioned in 1916, Langley Air Force Base is the oldest air base in the United States and has been used to immortalize prominent members in our history.
"Langley Field was the first military base specifically designed to be an air base. All the big names in early aviation have a connection to Langley," said David Bragg, Air Combat Command historical curator. "To travel the same streets and occupy the same buildings as the Air Force greats - it's a big deal."
Nestled next to an F-22 simulator building across from USAF Hospital Langley, sits Crawford Hall, an unassuming building whose name has a surprising history.
Crawford Hall houses the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band, one of the original Army Air Corps bands, created by order of the Secretary of War on Oct. 1, 1941. In June 1946, after a short stay at Brooks Field, Texas, the band arrived at Langley.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Cronsell, U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band trumpeter, feels blessed to have a place to practice with such a historic name attached.
"I feel deep personal pride when I think about working in Crawford Hall. Many incredible musician-Airmen have rehearsed within the walls of Crawford Hall," he said. "To be a part of the elite community of professional musicians who choose to enter into active duty is a great honor."
Music is an old military tradition. Around the campfires during the Civil War, aboard ships at sea, in Service member clubs and tents, the warriors of the armed forces joined in song from the beginning of modern man. Each branch of service has a distinct and cherished song that instills pride in its members.
Between World War I and II, Brig. Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold recognized a need for a song to express the identity of Airmen, which would distinguish them from Soldiers. Arnold recommended running a song competition with a monetary prize.
Arnold and Maj. Gen. Oscar Westover found support from a publisher and aviation enthusiast named Bernarr MacFadden, head of a publishing empire.
In 1938 "Liberty" magazine sponsored a contest, for a musical composition to become the official Army Air Corps song. MacFadden announced a song contest, and offered prize money in the amount of $1,000, equaling roughly $16,275 today, of his own money. The rules stated that the song must be simple, the range must be within limits of untrained voice and the pace consistent with a military tempo.
On July 18, 1939, Robert Crawford offered to sing a song he had composed, but not written down, for judge Mildred Yount, who then made Crawford write down the words and notes on a blank music sheet. She dubbed the rough manuscript "The Army Air Corps Song."
Crawford's life was intertwined with the military from a young age. He was born in Dawson City, Yukon, and spent his childhood in Fairbanks, Alaska. During World War I, he attempted to become a pilot in the United States Army Air Service, but was dismissed when he was discovered to be underage.
He attended the Case Scientific Institute, and then enrolled in Princeton University, where he graduated in 1925. Crawford later studied and taught at the Juilliard School of Music.
After learning how to fly an airplane in 1923, he flew around the United States in a small plane to concerts, where he was introduced as "The Flying Baritone." During World War II, Crawford flew for the Air Transport Command of the U.S. Army Air Forces.
In 1947, Crawford joined the University of Miami's music faculty. He remained there for ten years, until he left to focus on composing.
Crawford said he had written the song in two hours as he flew his private plane from New York to his home in Connecticut.
Of the 757 scores submitted, and after more than a year of searching, the score written by Crawford was selected by a committee composed mostly of wives of high-ranking Air Corps officers, just two days before the deadline. The song was officially introduced at the Cleveland Air Races on Sept. 2, 1939, where Crawford sang its first public rendition.
The Air Corps did not have the budget to underwrite copyrighting and publishing the song. However, it was produced commercially, and Crawford gave the Air Corps performance rights in perpetuity.
From 1939 to 1941, Airmen performed the song at every opportunity. New cadets put the lyrics inside their service caps and sang them as they marched. Post exchanges were ordered to put the song on the jukeboxes and told to play it whenever someone had not paid for another song.
When the Army Air Forces became the Air Force in 1947, the lyrics and title were changed to "Nothin'll stop the U.S. Air Force".
The first page of the score Crawford submitted to the selection committee in 1939 was carried to the surface of the moon on July 30, 1971, aboard the Apollo 15 "Falcon" lunar module by Col. David Scott and Lt. Col. James Irwin.
The crew aboard the Falcon comprised the first and only all-Air Force Apollo crew, and arranged to take the page of sheet music with them as a tribute to Mr. Crawford and the U.S. Air Force.
Crawford Hall was originally used as a helicopter simulation building before the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band relocated to Langley. Crawford Hall was dedicated to Robert Crawford May 31, 1979, and will continue to stand to honor the Father of the Air Force Song.
"History is very important. Memorializations allow Airmen of today to have a connection with their heritage," said Bragg. "Memorializations allow us all to be part of something bigger."