Name: Tony Bartley
Born: 28 March 1919
Joined 92: November 1939
left 92: March 1941
Died: 6 April 2001

​

Anthony Charles Bartley  was born in Dacca, India, the son of Sir Charles Bartley, an Irish barrister who served as a judge in the Calcutta High Court.
He was educated at Stowe and joined the RAF in 1939 on a short service commission. He was posted to No. 92 (East India) Squadron in November 1939, as it was forming in Tangmere, Sussex with the fighter version of the twin engine Bristol Blenheim.
After the Blenheims were replaced by Spitfires, he fought over Dunkirk during the fall of France and evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force.  As an RAF Spitfire fighter ace, he was awarded the DFC after scoring eight victories against enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain during the summer and autumn of 1940.
The following summer Bartley was attached to Vickers-Supermarine as a production test pilot and made a significant contribution to the development of the Spitfire.
Tony Bartley
In March 1941 he was posted as a flight commander to No. 74 Squadron RAF at Manston in Kent. He later served as a flying instructor at No. 53 Operational Training Unit and No. 56 Operational Training Unit (OTUs), before moving over to Vickers-Supermarine. During this time he performed the acrobatics for the film "The First of the Few", which chronicled the life of the Spitfire's designer R J Mitchell, as played by Leslie Howard.
In August 1942, Bartley received command of No. 111 Squadron RAF and led it to North Africa during the November Operation Torch landings. He shot down several enemy fighters over Tunisia, including at least three Me 109s.
Following his demobilisation, he returned to Vickers-Armstrong as test pilot and sales executive. However his career took a new direction when he moved to Hollywood following his first marriage in 1945 to the actress Deborah Kerr.
After studying film production with MGM, he formed European-American Productions, and wrote and produced television films for Fireside Theatre, MCA and Douglas Fairbanks Presents. He later joined CBS Films where he was responsible for European sales and production. He then joined Associated-Rediffusion, serving as head of the international division and assistant general manager until 1965, when he moved to Canada to represent Global Television and he wrote a history of Canada for the Canada Broadcasting Company.
In the late 1960s Bartley was appointed a director of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in Barbados and in 1971 he moved to Ireland, where he formed Intercontinental Telefilms and continued to write and develop television programmes.
His first marriage to Deborah Kerr was dissolved in 1958 with he whom he had two daughters Francesca and Melanie. Their three grandsons include the actors Lex, Tom and the writer Joe Shrapnel. He married secondly in 1965 to Victoria Mann who survived him with their two daughters Lucinda and Teressa, proving the old belief that Fighter Pilots, by and large, have daughters.