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Designed by Harold E. Morehouse, a preeminent light aircraft engine designer, this was the first successful U.S. inverted air-cooled engine designed for that aircraft type. An important advantage of the inverted design is improved pilot visibility. The prototype engine, designated Rover L-236, was assembled in 1928, type certificated in 1929 at a rating of 41 kW (55 shp), and flight tested on a British Avro Avian. In 1929, work also began on the improved and higher powered, Model L-267, production version, which was type certificated in 1930. The primary aircraft applications of the L-267 were the Driggs Skylark and Fairchild 22. Approximately 80 to 90 Rover L-267 engines were built before the depression of the early 1930s necessitated a complete production halt in 1932. A legacy of the L-267 was its influence on the design of other U.S. and European inverted, air-cooled engines.