Civilian use The first production Envoy I,
G-ACVH, flew in October 1934 and was used as a company demonstrator. The second, also a Series I but fitted with
Wolseley Aries III radial engines, A single Envoy participated in the
Schlesinger Race to Johannesburg, but crashed midway through, killing two of its crew. Numerous early airlines adopted the Envoy for their fleets. The British company
North Eastern Airways was the first to use the type as an airliner; multiple Envoys were used by the firm, which encountered difficulties on some routes due to limited passenger demand and navigation difficulties, leading to its discontinuation in 1938. The Indian operator
Tata Air Service operated a single Envoy on a demonstration flight between
Bombay (known as
Mumbai today) and
Calcutta (since re-spelt as
Kolkata) on 25 February 1935 to validate the viability of
air mail service between the two cities. Amongst the more successful airlines to operate the Envoy was
Japan Air Transport Co. (NKYKK –
Nihon Koku Yuso KK) and the
Czechoslovak firm
Czech Airlines (CSA), the latter having ordered four Envoys to launch its operations with on 1 October 1935. Orders for the Envoy came from a wide variety of customers, many of which were distributed across the
British Empire. A pair of aircraft were delivered to the
Ansett Airlines in
Australia. The Spanish company
Commercial Air Hire acquired one of the early-build Envoys for civilian purposes; it was subsequently
impressed into military service along with several Envoys during the
Spanish Civil War. During May 1937, the
King's Flight took delivery of a single Envoy III as a replacement for a
de Havilland Dragon Rapide; this aircraft received the registration
G-AEXX and was painted in distinctive red and blue colours. Through the mid to late 1930s, several overseas companies entered negotiations with Airspeed with the aim of acquiring a
licence to produce the Envoy themselves. The Japanese company
Mitsubishi successfully did so, producing it as the
Mitsubishi Hinazuru-type Passenger Transport. The Austrian firm
Hirtenberger also secured a licence to locally manufacture the aircraft, while other entities, such as a
Yugoslavian venture, also made efforts to secure similar accommodations.
Military use The Envoy also saw military use, being adopted by the air arms of different countries. The aircraft was used in quantity by the Air Forces of
Spain,
Japan,
South Africa,
Finland,
China, and the
United Kingdom, along with several additional nations. Seven Envoys were ordered for joint use by the
South African Air Force (SAAF) and
South African Airways, with three being delivered in military form and four delivered to South African Airways, where they were used on the air route between
Johannesburg –
Bloemfontein –
Port Elizabeth on 12 October 1936. These aircraft, known as the "Convertible Envoy", could be equipped at short notice with
bomb racks and a
machinegun in a hand-operated
Armstrong Whitworth dorsal turret. Accordingly, each of these seven aircraft could be transformed by a work crew of four within four hours from the transport version into a light bomber or reconnaissance aircraft; in this configuration, the crew consisted of four; pilot, navigator, radio operator and gunner. While not a large order, Airspeed benefitted substantially from its work to develop the Convertible Envoy when it subsequently developed further militarised versions of the aircraft. During October 1936, the British
Air Ministry placed a sizable order for 136 Envoys, specially equipped for crew training, to fulfil
Specification T.23/36. These further developed aircraft were given a new company designation as the AS.10, and entered RAF service as the
Airspeed Oxford. During the
Spanish Civil War, ten AS.6 Envoys were obtained by the
Spanish Republicans, with the Nationalist side using two, including one that defected from the Republicans, as transport, reconnaissance aircraft or light bombers. One of the Nationalist Envoys flew into a mountain in June 1937, killing General
Emilio Mola; this Envoy had been their demonstrator and was sold for £6,000 cash (six £1000 Bank of England notes). During the
Second World War, the German
Luftwaffe captured several Envoys and operated a few as trainer aircraft for a time. Three months later, a follow-up order was placed four additional Envoys. Following the acquisition of a
licence, local production of the aircraft started at the
Nagoya Mitsubishi factory of the
Mitsubishi Hinazuru-type Passenger Transport. It was initially powered by
Gasuden Jimpu engines, but later using licence built
Armstrong Siddeley Lynx or
Wolseley Aries Mk.III engines. While largely identical to their British-made equivalents, Mitsubishi-built aircraft differed in that they were outfitted with landing flaps, along with additional supporting frames around the passenger cabin windows and a covering for the transport cockpit canopy. Flight testing of the Jimpu powered aircraft resulted in a crash, killing the flight test observer, (the first fatality during flight testing of Mitsubishi aircraft), blamed on the engines producing excessive drag, resulting in the switch to licence-built British engines. Eleven aircraft were built at Nagoya before production ceased, all of which flew domestic services for NKYKK (later to become
Greater Japan Airways).
Postwar era By the end of the Second World War, there were very few Envoys left in operation. One of the RAF Envoy IIIs that survived the conflict was subsequently disposed of as surplus and operated by Private Charter Ltd as
G-AHAC for civil passenger charter flights, it was retired and finally scrapped at
Tollerton airport, Nottingham during 1950. ==Variants==