[Stig Jarlevik]

Hi Franklin

Not of any real interest to me, but I checked with a French friend of mine who is really great when it comes to all things Aeronautique Navale.

His answer below

Yves Gendrot apparently joined the Navy in 1947, and was a qualified shipboard fighter pilot, petty officer, at the time of Indochina (His rank was “Second-Maître”) and he was later promoted to officer status.

in 1962 (“Officier des Equipages”, meaning officers who are not former trainees from the Naval Academy, i.e. a commissioned officer who began his career as an enlisted sailor then became a petty officer prior to full officer commissioning)

I can also add that he ended at the top of his career as an OCE, Officier en Chef des Equipages, equivalent to the rank of commander, with five stripes, 2 golden, 3 silver.

Missions were not numbered in the French military system, rather hours flown on “war missions”, and underlined as such in the pilot’s log book.

So there is no answer to the second part of your query

Cheers
Stig