Christened “Piggi” or “Pitschi” by the pilots, the aircraft made its maiden flight on June 16, 1953. Over the following ten years about 270 units of the low-wing aircraft were produced (190 of these units were licenced by Focke-Wulf in Bremen). The light aircraft with limited aerobatic capability was mainly used by the German Air Force (for a full 33 years), but the Austrian Air Force also had a P.149D in service from 1958 to 1965.

On the AIRPOWER22 the FW Piaggio P.149D can be seen in the static display.