In 1917, he completed a pilot course, and he joined the underground aviator organization (Warsaw was under German occupation at that time).

In 1924-1926 he worked in France, supervising production of aircraft for Poland and he also undertook research on aerodynamics there.

During 1937-1939 he was a technical director for the Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów (LWS) works and supervised licensing some Polish designs to Romania and Turkey.

During World War II he stayed in Poland and worked under the German occupation as a teacher in technical schools.

After Poland's liberation in 1945, Bartel worked in the Polish Civil Aviation Department of Ministry of Communication, but in 1948, with the advent of Stalinism in Poland, the communist authorities removed him from work in aviation, along with many other pre-war experts.