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And I remember another episode from the movie.
There was an unlucky pilot. He couldn't get victory again and again. His comrades reported about their victories again and again but he didn't.
And once he run into the headquarters and shouted: "I shot a "Messer" [Bf-109]"
But later it became known that it was a mistake and it was a horrific mistake - he shot down the Soviet fighter. The Soviet fighter didn't defend, he tried to show that it was a friendly plane by some means but the French pilot wanted to shoot down an enemy fighter very much and didn't draw attention on it.
The French pilot was very upset. Moreover, it turned out that he shot down the Soviet pilot who often visited "Normandie" and who was well known to the French pilots.
Later, from time to time "Normandie" stood in a formation and the Soviet officers solemnly awarded some the French pilots. And each time that French pilot stood in an alignment with "dropped" head and looked how his comrades were getting the Soviet awards. He often spoke: "I shot down a Russian plane and the Russians remember it."
He continued to fight and got his victories but in any awarding ceremony he had no hope to be awarded.
But suddenly in one awarding ceremony he heard his name. The Soviet officer called his to go out from an alignment and to get an award. He was amazed: "It is impossible, I shot down a Russian plane". But it was true, he was awarded by a Soviet award.
I saw the movie many years ago so I can make some mistakes in my description so I do not remember what award the French pilot got (may be, he became a Hero of Soviet Union).

It was Maurice Challe.
On June, 8th of 1944 two Soviet "Yaks" of 18th Guards FAR took off for interception of two German "Fw-190" which flew with recon mission over the Soviet ground troops. The German planes saw the appropaching Soviet fighters and run away. The Soviet planes began to return home. In the same time 4 "Yaks" of "Normandie" took off with the same mission. They flew in the direction of the German planes where 2 Soviet fighters had flew some time before.
Suddenly Maurice Challe, one of the French pilots, saw 2 fighters which flew to him from the direction of sun. He made a frontal attack of one of them. Usually it is difficult to hit an enemy plane from a frontal attack but now Maurice Challe hitted the target. Maurice Challe drew attention neither on the strange behavior of hitted plane nor on the well-known silhoete of a "Yak"-fighter and attacked it again. Soviet pilot Arkhipov was pilot of that Soviet "Yak"...
Maurice Challe was very upset...
To the end of the war Maurice Challe shot down 10 German planes and was awarded by three Soviet orders: by an Order of the Red Banner and by two Orders of the Patriotic War (of 2nd and 1st Class).