The story
On March 17, 1911, the Verein Deutscher Flugzeugindustrieller (later the Verband Deutscher Flugzeug-Industrieller GmbH) was founded. The founders were Albatros Flugzeugwerke, Aviatik GmbH, Dorner Flugzeuge GmbH, Flugmaschine Wright-Gesellschaft mbH, Euler-Flugmaschinenwerke, Grade-Fliegerwerke, Harlan-Flugzeugwerke and Rumpler-Flugzeugwerke AG.
From 1917, the association was a member of the Kriegsverband der Flugzeugindustrie e. V., an initiative of the Inspection of the Air Force (IdFlieg) with 120 companies and 125,000 employees (monthly production of 2,000 aircraft). In 1921, the association was merged with the Verein Deutscher Motorfahrzeug-Industrieller to form the Verband Deutscher Luftfahrzeug-Industrieller GmbH. The association was liquidated on September 17, 1923, and re-established on October 30, 1923, as the Verband Deutscher Luftfahrzeughersteller e. V. In 1927, the association was again dissolved and re-established as the Reichsverband der Deutschen Luftfahrt-Industrie (RDLI), and later reconstituted after the withdrawal of Luft-Hansa in 1929.
During the National Socialist era, the association was incorporated into the Main Group II of the German economy as an independent economic group. After the Second World War, the association was renamed Verband der Deutschen Luftfahrt e. V. in 1951, but had to change its name to Verband zur Förderung der Luftfahrt e. V. (VFL) one year later. With the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955 and its return to control of its airspace, the association was transformed into the Bundesverband der Deutschen Luftfahrtindustrie e. V. (BDLI).
From Wikipedia’s article on Bundesverband der Deutschen Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5