Crew led by colonel into something scary (8)
I believe the answer is:
bogeyman
'something scary' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'crew led by colonel' is the wordplay.
'crew' becomes 'man' (both can mean to staff or operate something).
'led by' says to put letters next to each other.
'colonel' becomes 'bogey' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'man' put after 'bogey' is 'BOGEYMAN'.
'into' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bogeyman that I've seen before include "Person (real or imaginary) used as a threat to children" , "Evil spirit frightening children" , "Unpleasant character" , "Imaginary male feared by children" , "Evil bloke giving children nightmares" .)