The Yakovlev Yak-6 was a versatile twin-engine utility aircraft that was designed in the opening stages of World War II in order to complement the older, single-engine Po-2. The Yak-6 was a simple aircraft of mixed construction albeit predominately of wood and which was notable for using fuel tanks made of chemically-impregnated plywood rather than rubber which was in short supply. Simple but reliable M-11F engines were fitted along with wooden propellers but there were some advanced features such as retractable landing gear (although some later production aircraft had them fixed). As a transport the Yak-6 could carry up to four passengers or 500-kg of cargo, but it was also used as a night bomber with a similarly sized payload plus a single rear-facing 7.62-mm ShKAS gun. The Yak-6 was well liked by its crews enough to merit the nickname 'Baby Douglas' in reference to the US DC-3 but tricky handling resulted in preference given to the similar Shche-2. Despite this, it remained in Soviet (and with some allies) until 1950.

First flight of the Yak-6 took place in June 1942 following an incredibly rapid development period that began just a few weeks earlier, on 26 April. Production aircraft began to appear by the autumn. There was no distinction in the designation of standard (unarmed) utility aircraft and those modified as night bombers (referred to as nochnoy blizhniy bombardirosshchik or NBB). A variant with swept outer wings was known as the Yak-6M while improved engines resulted in the Yak-8 but neither entered full scale production.