In the transport role, they ferried supplies and evacuated the wounded during the Siege of Tobruk, while on 2 May 1941, Bombays of No. 216 Squadron RAF evacuated the Greek Royal Family from Crete to Egypt. Later that month, Bombays played an important role in ferrying troops during the Anglo-Iraqi War. Five Bombays were used by the fledgling SAS in their first official operation in the Middle East, a raid on five forward German aerodromes on 17 November 1941.