After the end of the Second World War, the Czechoslovak company Beneš-Mráz, which had been a successful producer of light aircraft prior to the war, came under the control of Automobilov Zavody, with Beneš-Mráz's Choceň factory being renamed Orlican Narodny Podnik in 1946.

The prototype was powered by a single inverted Walter Minor 6-III six-cylinder air-cooled inline engine, rated at 118 kW (158 hp), driving a fixed two-bladed wooden propeller (which was later replaced by an electrically operated variable-pitch propeller).

[3] Testing was generally successful, although the prototype was overweight, and it was planned to introduce a turbocharged version of the Walter Minor engine rated at 136 kW (182 hp) for short periods to improve performance.

[3] It was planned that production could begin in 1950, and the Bonzo was exhibited at the 1949 Paris Air Show, where it attracted favourable attention.

[3] The Bonzo was used as a runabout at the Choceň factory until the end of 1949, and was then passed to the Slovak Institute of Cartography in Bratislava where it served until 1952.