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.