 At the same time as his appointment to Chief of Staff of the French air force on 18 February 1938, General Vuillemin became ‘vice-président du Conseil supérieur de l’air’ (Vice Chairman of the Supreme Air Council) and Inspector General of Home Air Defence.He was further promoted to the rank of ‘general d’armée aérienne’ (equivalent of air chief marshal in the RAF).At the outbreak of the Second World War, he became Chief of the Air Staff, a post he would hold until the Armistice with France (Second Compiègne) in June 1940.