The Convertible Envoy was developed for South Africa, which sought a model that could be rapidly reconfigured between civilian and military duties, being outfitted for use as a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft for the latter capacity.

The Envoy served as the basis for the Airspeed Oxford, a militarised trainer aircraft operated in large numbers by the Allies in and around the Second World War.

[1] Very quickly following the first flight, the company's management recognised that a logical follow-up project would be an enlarged derivative powered by twin engines, involving considerably less design work than an equivalent clean sheet initiative.

[1] One week later, confidence in the prototype was so high that Airspeed decided to dispatch it for its first public appearance, an exhibition by the Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) at Hendon.

[3] Wolseley abruptly decided to cease aircraft engine manufacture in September 1936 as a result of the bureaucratic requirements of the Air Ministry being considered excessive by Lord Nuffield.

[2][4] Early on, Airspeed promoted the Envoy by entering individual aircraft in air races and performing numerous long-distance flights.

Having been designed from the onset as a twin-engined development of the company's earlier Courier, numerous commonalities were shared between the two aircraft, including near-identical wooden construction, the same outer wing panels and the main undercarriage.

[6] It also featured outboard extension wings, which could optionally accommodate a pair of additional 30 gallon fuel tanks to extend the aircraft's range.

[5] Another aircraft, a specially modified version with long-range tanks (the AS 8 Viceroy) reached as far as Athens before leaving the race due to damage.

[12] 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.

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.

[17] 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.

[18] The Royal Air Force (RAF) procured a handful of Envoys for communications work both domestically and overseas in the British Raj.

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.

Eleven aircraft were built at Nagoya before production ceased, all of which flew domestic services for NKYKK (later to become Greater Japan Airways).

Cheetah-powered Envoy, VH-UXY, piloted by Charles Ulm, disappeared in December 1934 during an attempt to fly the Pacific route between Oakland and Honolulu.

[35][2] Maxwell Findlay fatally crashed another Envoy, modified with long-range fuel tanks, in northern Rhodesia during the October 1936 Portsmouth to Johannesburg Schlesinger African Air Race.

[24][36] The Envoy prototype (demonstrator) was sold to the Spanish Nationalists for £6000 cash (six £1000 Bank of England notes) in September 1936 and used as a VIP transport.