The Airspeed AS.6 Envoy was a twin-engined light transport aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Ltd. The Envoy originated as a heavier twin-engine derivative of Airspeed's Courier light transport aircraft. Sharing much of its design with this earlier aircraft, it was relatively easy to develop; confidence in the project was so high that within a week of the prototype's maiden flight, it was performing as a display aircraft to the public. Quantity production of the Envoy had been initiated even before this first flight. Early on, Airspeed worked closely with the British engine manufacturer Wolseley Motors as both a key supplier and early custom of the Envoy; development subsequently branched out to a wide variety of engines and configurations. The majority of Envoys were produced by Airspeed at their facility at Portsmouth Aerodrome, Hampshire. The type was also produced overseas in Japan by Mitsubishi following the acquisition of a licence at the company's Nagoya factory; it was locally known as the Mitsubishi Hinazuru-type Passenger Transport. While many customers of the Envoy were in the civilian sector, where it was used for a variety of purposes from air racing to operating as an airliner, it also found an audience with military operators. 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. The Airspeed Envoy was a twin-engined low-wing cabin monoplane of all-wood construction apart from fabric covered control surfaces. It had a rearward retracting main undercarriage with a fixed tailwheel. 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. The airframe had a plywood exterior while the structure was composed of wood as well and was considered to be conventional for the era. In a typical configuration, the cabin could accommodate eight passengers along with a single pilot, while the Envoy's normal fuel capacity was 78 gallons, accommodated within a pair of aluminium tanks in the centre section. A separate aft compartment was normally used to store baggage, accessible via an exterior door on the starboard side of the aircraft. If the optional lavatory was installed, a reduced maximum capacity of six passengers was necessary. Passenger access to the cabin was via a single door on the port side of the aircraft. For further details on development, design, operational history and 13 variants, click here.
