[1] Representing a high-output version of the AM-38F, the AM-42 was used in the Ilyushin Il-1 fighter, and the Il-8 and Il-10 ground attack aircraft.

The AM-42 was a low-altitude engine for attack aircraft that evolved from the earlier AM-38F.

The first examples were produced in November 1942 and passed its 50-hour Factory tests in January 1943.

A strengthened version of the AM-42 completed its State tests in spring 1944.

10,232 engines were built by the time it was phased out of production in the USSR in 1954.