Early Service and Victories in France
Yves Carbon was born on April 3, 1911, in Lumbres, France. He began his service in aviation in December 1930. He participated in the battles over France during the summer of 1940 as part of the GC I/5 and GC 3/10 units.
During this campaign, Carbon achieved his first two victories on May 15 and 17, flying an MB.152 fighter, shooting down two Bf.109s. He was demobilized in January 1943.
Combat with the Normandie-Niemen Regiment
From January 1944, Yves Carbon resumed fighting, joining the 2nd squadron of the famous “Normandie-Niemen” regiment. On October 16, 1944, in battles over East Prussia, he secured another two victories by destroying two Bf.109 fighters.
Soon after, on October 22, he repeated the same result, shooting down two Fw.190s. Additionally, two more aircraft were shot down by him in group engagements. All these victories were achieved while flying the Yak-3 fighter.
Total Victories and Tragic Death
In total, throughout his combat career, Yves Carbon achieved 8 victories: he personally shot down 6 enemy aircraft and 2 in group engagements. Some sources, however, present different figures, mentioning 5 victories in France and 7 (5 + 2) in Russia. Currently, there is no precise data to resolve these discrepancies.
After the end of World War II, Carbon worked as an instructor in a flight school. Tragically, he died in an aviation accident in France on October 25, 1949.