Anthony Charles Bartley, (28 March 1919 – 18 April 2001) was a British film and television executive, and fighter pilot. As a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) Spitfire pilot, Bartley was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

, during which he became a

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

Early life

Bartley was born in

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, India, on 28 March 1919, the son of an Irish barrister, Sir Charles Bartley, a Calcutta High Court judge. Bartley attended

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

, a boarding

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for boys in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Stowe, in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

RAF career

In 1938, Bartley learned to fly. He was commissioned as an acting

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

in the

on 18 April 1939; this rank was made permanent, albeit on probation, on 21 October 1939. He flew with No. 92 Squadron through the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

, seeing action over Dunkirk and during the

and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in October 1940, by which time he had been credited with shooting down "at least eight enemy aircraft". After serving in No. 74 Squadron in early 1941, Bartley became an instructor at several operational training units before transferring to Vickers Supermarine as a test pilot at in July 1941. In early 1942, he returned to operational flying, being posted No. 65 Squadron as a flight commander but took command of the squadron in May 1942. In August 1942, he took command of No. 111 Squadron, and led them during

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

, in North Africa, until January 1943. For his service in North Africa, he received a bar to his DFC in February 1943. After returning to the United Kingdom, he served on the staff of No. 83 Group RAF, before departing in October 1944 for the US to attend the

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

, and then at the School of Air Tactics. His next posting was as a liaison officer to the 70th Fighter Wing. In October 1944 he joined

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 19 ...

in the Far East. At the end of the war Bartley's combat total included 12 (and 1 shared) destroyed, 1 unconfirmed destroyed, 5 'probables' and 8 'damaged'.

Film industry

Following his demobilisation in 1946, Bartley returned to

Vickers-Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

, where he worked as both a sales executive and a test pilot. He had married the actress

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a Scottish actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first person from Scotland to be no ...

in November 1945, and later moved with her to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. The couple had met in Brussels in March 1945, when she was performing, with Stewart Grainger, in a production of Gaslight for the troops.Smoke Trails in the Sky His post-war work in the film industry included roles in the United States, Canada, Barbados and Ireland, and included the establishment of several companies, writing and producing films for television, work in sales and production and executive roles.

Personal life

Bartley and Kerr had two daughters, Francesca and

Melanie Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek language, Greek μελανία (melania), "blackness" and that from μέλας (melas), meaning "dark".Lex Shrapnel and Tom Shrapnel as well as the writer Joe Shrapnel. Melanie is a medical sociologist and retired academic. Bartley and Kerr divorced in 1959 and he married again in 1965 to Victoria Mann. Bartley died in 2001. He was survived by Mann and their two daughters, Cindy and Teresa, as well as by Francesa and Melanie. Mann passed away in 2019. On 19 November 2021, it was announced that the seven medals Bartley received for his wartime service would be auctioned by Dix Noonan Webb in London in December 2021.

Bibliography

* Bartley, Anthony. (1984). ''Smoke Trails in the Sky''. William Kimber. * Bartley, Tony. (1997). ''Smoke Trails in the Sky: The Journals of a Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot''. Crecy Publishing Ltd; 2nd edition.

References

External links

* * Autobiography "Smoke Trails in the Sky" (1984)
"The Daily Telegraph" Obituary

Imperial War Museum Interview

Memorial Notice for Victoria Bartley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartley, Tony 1919 births 2001 deaths British World War II flying aces English aviators People educated at Stowe School Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force squadron leaders Royal Air Force pilots of World War II The Few People from Dhaka British people in colonial India