He led the construction of a Colossus computer replica at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park in England, completed in 2007. He was educated at Dulwich College in south London, During his adolescence he built George the robot out of Meccano, and continued working on it until it reached a fourth version in 1949, when it was given much media coverage.
Sale joined the Royal Air Force in 1949, serving until 1952. During his three years in the Royal Air Force, Sale gained a commission and reached the rank of Flying Officer. He was an instructor at Royal Air Force Officers Radar School at Royal Air Force Debden.
Sale worked as an engineer for MI5 under Peter Wright in the 1950s.
As a result of his Colossus rebuild work, he was awarded the Comdex Information Technology Personality of the Year for 1997. He also received the 2000 Royal Scottish Society of Arts Silver Meda After his death, the British Computer Conservation Society established in 2012 the Tony Sale Award for Computer Conservation and Restoration. lieutenant comprises a trophy and a travel bursary.
