It's
my own long-held personal opinion that the Kawanishi Type 97
'Mavis' flying boat is the 'Holy Grail' of scale modelers and
enthusiasts; it's the one 'boat that has eluded all attempts to
really uncover it's secrets and especially, the interior. Whilst
many other craft have information readily available, or at the
very worst findable after hours of research, the Mavis to-date has
been a real challenge to uncover anything worthwhile. Each new
image, when found on, say, a previously unknown foreign website
has been greeted with, 'Wow, look at this' type exclamations from
flying boat enthusiasts all around the world, till then reduced to
grovelling for information. So, here is my attempt to pull
together all the images that are available to me on this 'boat and
I will gladly add to this gallery as time goes on.
Surely, there must
exist operational WWII photos, close-ups - with or without the
crew - Flight manuals, Maintenance manuals, interior pictures,
engine photo's and drawings, detailed plans; the list is endless
and they must be 'out there' somewhere............?
If you know of, or
have available, any other images not shown here - and especially
the interior of operational WWII IJN 'boats, please, please send
them in to SEAWINGS for inclusion here.
Credits: John Smith, Louis Emond, LIFE Archive, Rod's Warbirdpix
website - Thanks, Rob. |