The Messerschmitt story begins with Professor Willy Messerschmitt joining the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1927 and forming a design team that repeatedly pushed the boundaries of aircraft performance, their Bf 108 Taifun and Bf 109 designs setting records and winning competitions in the second half of the 1930s.
Messerschmitt AG was incorporated as a separate company on July 11 1938, with Willy Messerschmitt as chairman and managing directory, and produced many innovative aircraft for wartime Germany, including the Me 262 Schwalbe, the world's first jet fighter aircraft used in combat, and the rocket-powered Me 163 Komet.
Other Messerschmitt aircraft included the Bf 110 twin-engine fighter-bomber, its less-effective successor Me 210, the Me 410 Hornisse, the enormous Me 321 Gigant transport glider, and its six-engined follow on, the Me 323. See the list of aircraft of the WW2 Luftwaffe.
After WW2 the company wasn't allowed to make aircrafts so they looked at alternatives and came up with the three wheeled motorcycle/bubble car KR200. According to an urban legend it's made with old aeroplane parts. It isn't true but since it was designed by aircraft engineers it's probably no coincidence it looks somewhat like an aeroplane. A well known appearance of this car is in Terry Gilliam's Brazil, to great effect.
In 1968 the Messerschmitt AG merged with Bölkow, and one year later the aviation department of the company Blohm was added. The company then became changed their name to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm. In 1989 it was taken over by Benz Aerospace AG.
