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.