Its roots can be traced back to the Airspeed AS.6 Envoy of 1934, which was militarised in 1937 to create a mass-produced trainer, the Airspeed AS.10 Oxford. The Oxford was massively produced, with almost 9.000 exemplars having been made.
Given that surplus Oxfords were common and inexpensive, from 1946 onwards one hundred and sixty two Oxfords were refitted for civilian use at Airspeed's factory in Portsmouth, and received the name of 'Consul'. They turned to be attractive for various airlines thanks to its clean lines and Airspeed soon offered a conversion kit.
The Consul saw service with various airlines all around the world, the type being specially popular with small scheduled charter and feeder airlines in the United Kingdom, where 32 airlines operated the type, among them, the prestigious British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) though in training flights only. It was also used by various private enterprises as executive transports.
Its wooden structure, however, added to the heavy wartime use, tricky handling and small seat capacity, played against the type. Many of the civil conversions were bought by military operators (such as Argentina, Israel, Turkey or Pakistan, among others - check out our previous posts on the subject) and the Consul was employed as VIP transport on air forces that had previously operated the Oxford.
Nowadays, there are just only two surviving Consuls, one of them being restored and the other one stored in pieces.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Consul
2. https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/airspeed-as65-consul
3. http://britishaviation-ptp.com/airspeed_as65.html
4. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Airspeed:_Consul
5. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_oxford_&_consul.pdf
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