40. Stresses the need to explore, on the basis of already existing capacities such as the EU Battle Groups and the European Air Transport Command, the possibility of creating further joint capabilities that are relevant for operations which respond to the impact of climate change or natural disasters;

2. Emphasises the need for optimal coordination between an EU disaster response and other EU instruments - particularly Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civil or military missions and instruments (i.e. Battlegroups) – which are already on the ground or which could be set up in the aftermath of a disaster; also underlines that EU response could rely as well on available multinational forces, such as the European Air Transport Command in Eindhoven which could for example play a role in coordinating Member States’ strategic transport capabilities;

It also explains why, more than 50 years later, he was still at the controls and doing barrel rolls in a jet fighter, this time as the honorary colonel of a Canadian Forces flight squadron.