Glenn Curtiss of Hammondsport, New York, who built and raced bicycles early in the twentieth century, later raced, designed and built motorcycles and motorcycle engines. In 1904, a 5.2 kW (7-hp) Curtiss air-cooled engine powered a small dirigible, his first entry into aviation. Later in that decade, to achieve higher power, Curtiss developed liquid-cooled engines for aviation. A 1931 merger of the two famous aeronautical pioneers formed the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

The Conqueror was an outgrowth of the famous D-12, which had largely resulted from Curtiss collaborations with Charles B. Kirkham and Arthur Nutt, and was the last of the Curtiss liquid-cooled engine series to enter production. Between 1931 and 1937, 681 Conqueror engines were manufactured with both direct and geared drives that powered high-performance military and racing aircraft. The geared Conqueror G1V-1570-F powered the Douglas YO-31A and C, Douglas XO-35 and Y1O-35, and Douglas Y1O-43.