Thursday 20 February 2020

Airspeed AS.6 Envoy, part two

The Airspeed AS.6 Envoy was a British light, twin-engined transport aircraft designed and built by Airspeed Ltd. in the 1930s. It was exported to many countries, among them:

  • Finland: On 1st March 1942 the Finnish Air Force acquired one Airspeed AS.6E Envoy III from Germany which previously had belonged to Ceskoslovenske Statní Aerolinie (CSA - Czechoslovak's National Airline). It was given as a compensation for the De Havilland DH.89 'Lappi' (registered as OH-BLB) that the Luftwaffe shot down erroneously. The aircraft was used until 1943, when it was damaged beyond repair on 31st July 1943.
  • South Africa: Seven exemplar were ordered for the joint use of the South African Airways and the South African Air Force. Three of them were delivered in a military form, and four of them were delivered in a civilian variant. They were used to cover the air route between Johannesburg-Bloemfontein-Port Elizabeth, which opened on 12th October 1936. Each of those aircraft could be transformed by a small work crew and in just a matter of hours, into the light bomber or reconnaissance version with a dorsal turret equipped with a Vickers K gun. Some transport versions were used in the East African Campaign as reconnaissance aircraft in 1940-1941.
  • Slovakia: The Slovak Republic received the ex-Czechoslovak machine registered as 'OK-VIT' that had belonged to the Vitkovice Mine & Steel Company. It was delivered in the spring of 1940 and operated with the Slovenska Letecka Spolocnost (National Slovak Airline) operating from Bratislava. On 3rd May 1943, it suffered port engine failure and crashed on landing at Nozdrkovce airfiled, in Trencin, Slovakia. 









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Envoy
2. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_prewar.pdf
3. http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/12/60-squadron
4. http://britishaviation-ptp.com/airspeed_as6.html
5. http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?2462

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