The aircraft was designed by F. Fecher and students in the aeronautical engineering department of the Technische Universität Darmstadt.

It was a development of the D-16 project, that was designed for a sports aircraft contest organized by Idaflieg in 1926.

However, the D-18 dropped out due to a forced landing near Września before Poznań on 11 August 1929, during a rally around Europe, because of a fuel pipe clogging.

The aircraft was repaired and, now fitted with an enclosed cabin, it took part in another contest, Challenge 1930, again piloted by Rudolf Neininger.

On 26 July 1930, during a rally around Europe the D-18 was forced to ditch in the Mediterranean Sea between Barcelona and Nîmes due to breaking a piston.