Tony Bartley Squadron Leader Anthony Charles Bartley ( 28 March 1919 – 18 April 2001 ) was a film and television executive . As an RAF Spitfire fighter ace , he was awarded the DFC after scoring eight victories against enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain . Tony 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 in 1938 learned to fly . He joined the RAF in 1939 on a short service commission , and 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 . He flew with the Squadron through the Battle of Britain , and was awarded the DFC in October 1940 . In March 1941 he was posted as a flight commander to No . 74 Squadron RAF at Manston in Kent . In May 1941 he served as a flying instructor at No . 53 Operational Training Unit and No . 56 Operational Training Unit ( OTUs ) , before moving in July 1941 to Vickers - Supermarine as a production test pilot , and made a significant contribution to the further development of the Spitfire . During this time he performed the aerobatics 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 was posted to command of No . 111 Squadron RAF and led it to North Africa for the November Operation Torch landings . He shot down several enemy fighters over Tunisia , including at least three Bf - 109s . His tour ended in January 1943 and was awarded a bar to his DFC the following month . He then served on the staff of No . 83 Group , before departing in October 1944 for the USA to attend tte Command and General Staff College . In October 1944 he joined Transport Command in the Far east . At the end of the war his combat total included 12 ( and 1 shared ) destroyed , 1 unconfirmed destroyed , 5 ' probables ' and 8 ' damaged ' . 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 marriage to Deborah Kerr was dissolved in 1958 with whom he had two daughters Francesca and Melanie . Their three grandsons include the actors Lex , Tom and the writer Joe Shrapnel . He married again in 1965 to Victoria Mann , who survived him with their two daughters . " A Cobra in the Sky " . Simon Morris . http : / / www . 92squadron . com