The younger Berliner founded ERCO to produce tools for the manufacture of metal aircraft and propellers.

He founded the company in a shed at 2014 5th Street NW Washington D.C. Berliner met Fred Weick, an aeronautical engineer, who worked with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in cowlings and propellers on a 1926 while developing the propellers for the USS Akron.

In 1937, Berliner purchased 50 acres of land in Riverdale, Maryland near the College Park Airport and built the large ERCO factory and airstrip.

He came up with the inverted, in-line I-L 116, which provided good pilot visibility and enhanced aircraft streamlining.

During World War II, the ERCO factory made several products under contract with the U.S. government, including gun turrets.