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. During the
Battle of France, General Vuillemin repeatedly called for more British squadrons to come to the aid of French forces which were under severe attack from the German
Luftwaffe. Commenting to General
Edward Spears on 30 May 1940, the British Air Attaché in Paris, Air Commodore
Douglas Colyer, criticised certain senior French officers saying that, while they had been very brave pilots in the last war, they were not sufficiently educated to command important formations now. In Colyer's view, included among these was General Vuillemin. . On 12 June 1940, at a meeting of the
Anglo French Supreme War Council at Briare, it was reported that a bombing raid by the RAF against Italy the previous day had been thwarted by General Vuillemin, who had ordered lorries to be driven onto the airfield as the bombers were preparing for take-off. He feared that such raids would provoke Italian reprisals, the consequences of which would be disastrous, as the French Air Force was not present in the south. Vuillemin requested that no raids be launched against targets in northern Italy unless these were carried out in response to attacks by the Italians.
General Spears, who was present at the conference in his capacity of
Winston Churchill's personal representative to the French Prime Minister, wondered why 'if he had bombers to bomb back in retaliation, why not use them now?' On 24 June 1940, Vuillemin was named Inspector General of the Air Force and given responsibility for the co-ordination of air defence operations. In November 1940, at his own request, he was removed from the active list of serving air force officers. He died in
Lyon on 23 July 1963. ==Ranks (approximate British equivalents)==