The prototype was flown to Croydon Airport for customer acceptance trials with Imperial Airways, the airline was reportedly entirely satisfied by its performance. On 26 September 1932, the aircraft flew its first commercial service from Croydon to Brussels and Cologne. On 20 October 1932, the prototype was damaged during a test flight due to fuel starvation caused by a malfunctioning experimental vent on the fuel tank. Armstrong Whitworth was allegedly embarrassed by the incident and renamed the third production machine (G-ABTI, "Arethusa") as "Atalanta", apparently in the hope that nobody would notice the substitution.