Joint Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Squadron

The Joint Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Squadron (JARTS) is a combined Royal Navy and Royal Air Force squadron that is tasked with the recovery and surface transportation of aircraft under the aegis of the British military framework. The squadron operates worldwide, and recovering aircraft from post-crash incidents is a large part of their work. Whilst they are a component of the British military, they may be asked to attend and recover aircraft from non-military incidents (such as the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash) as they have a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

History
JARTS was founded by the combination of the two separate teams that operated on behalf of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. The squadron is parented and overseen by No. 85 (Expeditionary Logistics) Wing RAF at RAF Wittering, but is based at, and works out of, MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. Previous to this, two distinct teams were based at Gosport (Royal Navy) and MoD St Athan (RAF). The navy contingent dealt with rotary wing incidents and the air force with fixed wing incidents, but these two elements were combined at MoD Boscombe Down in the Autumn of 2010. JARTS deploys worldwide to all military aircrash sites and has four teams in a state of readiness. In 2015, JARTS deployed to 13 fatal crash sites including one in Afghanistan.

Assessing, salvaging, repairing and transporting crashed aircraft was the responsibility of No.'s 49, 58, 60 & 71 Maintenance Units during the Second World War. Gradually, 71 MU took over all responsibility for this task worldwide as well as having to carry out routine aircraft transportation. This was strengthened as the other MU's were disbanded. 71 MU was formed in July 1940 at Slough with elements taken from 49 MU at RAF Faygate. The unit was moved to RAF Bicester in 1953. In 1976 the unit merged with 60 MU to form the Repair and Salvage Squadron (RSS) at RAF Abingdon. The RSS was moved to RAF St Athan in 1992 where it stayed for 15 years.

They also have a remit to assist the AAIB when requested to do so by the AAIB. Some of the most notable instances of this have been the Pan Am Flight 103 (the Lockerbie Disaster), the 2008 Boeing 777 crash at Heathrow and the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash, when a former RAF Hawker Hunter crashed onto the A27 road in East Sussex. The aircraft was in private hands, but because of the knowledge and experience held by JARTS of moving old aircraft that are used as gate guardians, the AAIB requested their help.

Moving gate guardians is also within the remit of JARTS and whilst this is secondary to the main task of post-crash management, it fulfils the bulk of JARTS's work. This can involve simply swapping aircraft over (IE at RAF Leeming when a Gloster Javelin was swapped for a Tornado F3 which was repositioned at the front gate) or when a base closes such as at RAF Brampton when its F4 Phantom was moved back to Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk from where it used to fly.

Aircraft moves are also undertaken to enable training to be accomplished on them at various sites. Between its inception in 2007 and October 2010, JARTS was responsible for the routine movement of 600 aircraft worldwide.

The squadron is primarily staffed by Royal Air Force service personnel and the Royal Navy make up the rest (about 20%).