Automobil und Aviatik AG was a German aircraft manufacturer during World War I. The company was established at Mülhausen (today in France) in 1909[1] and soon became one of the country's leading producers of aircraft. It relocated to Freiburg in 1914 and to Leipzig in 1916 and established a subsidiary in Vienna as Österreichisch-Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik Aviatik. During the war, the company became best known for its reconnaissance aircraft, the B.I and B.II, although the Austro-Hungarian subsidiary also produced a number of its own designs, including fighters such as the D.I.[2]
The company was founded in December 1909 by the Alsatian Georges Chatel.[3] It started with the license-production of French aircraft; Hanriot monoplanes and Farman biplanes. From 1912, the factory started building its own successful biplanes, designed by Robert Wild.[3]
Just at the beginning of World War One, on 1 August 1914 the company was relocated to Freiburg due to French threat, and then to new facilities in Leipzig-Heiterblick in 1916.[3] The company did not continue after the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.
