The negotiations and preparation took more than a year. Back in March 1942 Free France movement suggested sending French pilots to the USSR, yet the Soviet aviators said to their French colleagues: “Bonjour, camerades!” in Ivanovo only in November. Then, they were laughing recalling the mixture of French and Russian that they were talking to French pilots in and the broom they used to explain to them the importance of cooperation and teamwork in air combat. As a Soviet song with lyrics by Dolmatovsky said, they were flying in the same sky and losing friends in arms. The French pilots distinguished themselves while leaping Neman and added the river’s name to the name of their squadron, which became a regiment by that time. After the victory, the French returned to their motherland piloting YAK-3 aircrafts given to them as gifts, and would get excited hearing Russian speech afterwards.