Kassa

   The Pole Josef Kassa started his aeronautical studies in France in 1910. In Paris he designed 3 aircraft, Ery 1, 2, and 3; at the time this last machine was flying near Paris, there were reports of a 50 hp 2-seater being built in Russia.
   All 3 were of the same basic design: a triangular-section uncovered fuselage of wood; the undercarriage was made on a large inverted U, similar to that on the Vendome monoplanes; the wheels were set in slotted frames which came forward into curved skids, from the ends of which heavy springs ran back to the arch to provide shock-absorbing. The inner ends of the 4 wing spars curved upward to form an unusual wing pylon.
   The first one was likely to be the "monoplane of Mayeroff and Blinderman," flown by the latter at Nice in April 1911 and later crashed by Lecomte. The fuselage was covered only around the cockpit; there were 2 tailplanes slightly staggered, the upper one with a curved airfoil set on the fuselage top, and the lower consisting of 2 elevator flaps hinged underneath the aft end of the fuselage. The tail may have been copied from Garbero's modified Bleriot XI.

   (Span: 10 m; length: 9 m; wing area: 20 sqm; 50 hp 5-cylinder Viale)
  
   The second, rather similar but with a better finish, may have been built at the Ateliers Aeronautiques de l'Est at St Die. The somewhat shorter fuselage earned long triangular fin and tailplanes with rectangular rudder and elevators; the down-curved wings of the first design were replaced by rectangular panels with slight dihedral and large angle of attack. The engine was the same 5-cylinder engine, perhaps a Viale.
   The third, also known as the Blinderman-Gibert, was flown in 1912 at Chateau Fort, near Buc. The tail surfaces were now swallow shapes, with rounder control surfaces. The triangular section of the aft fuselage became polyhedral forward.