The production of this air-cooled radial engine, designed in 1948 by Aleksandr Ivchenko, was started at the Voronezh Machine Factory. Later it was also produced in Poland, Czechoslovakia and China. The first versions of the engine were delivered to the reorganised Hungarian Air Force with the Yakovlev Yak-12R “Heron” trainer and courier aircraft in January 1952. The Yak-12s served in the Hungarian People’s Army until 1964.