Kawanishi H6K (Mavis)

1938 WORLD WAR 2

• 1 West Sichuan H6K (Mavis) Story
• 2 Kawanishi H6K (Mavis) Specification
  • 2.1 Basic
  • 2.2 Production
  • 2.3 Roles
  • 2.4 Dimensions
  • 2.5 Weight
  • 2.6 Performance
  • 2.7 Performance
  • 2.8 Armor
  • 2.9 Changes

West Sichuan H6K (Mavis) Story

While looking a lot like part of the German-made Dornier series of airships, the Kawanishi-branded H6K series (Allied codenamed "Mavis") bears more resemblance to Western airship designs. Interestingly, considering that Imperial Japan is the island nation, it becomes surprising to believe that the H6K was indeed the only viable long-range capable reconnaissance airship when the Empire attacked Pearl Harbor. In practice, the H6K is a viable airship type with impressive endurance and reasonable offensive capabilities, but the type exhibits similar shortcomings to other Japanese-designed aircraft models - namely poor armor and no self-sealing fuel tanks .

In terms of design, the aircraft has a sleek design. All four engines (the type of which varied over the course of development and the war itself) were mounted high on the wing assembly, which was mounted on the fuselage via struts. The pontoons adorn the two wings working on water, and the boat-like fuselage is clearly visible.

The fuselage is long and slender, ending in a vertical twin tail. Accommodation for a total of 9 people, these positions include a defensive weapon consisting of a 4 x 7.7mm machine in the open bow, dorsal and two beam bladder positions. A 20mm turret is located at the very end of the aircraft.

Offensive weapons for anti-ship missions may exceed 4,400 lb ordnance or 2 x 1,764 lb torpedoes.

The H6K1 was the first service model to go into production, but the service was scaled back in 1938. The first major production model series became the H6K2, followed by a solid addition to the H6K4 with 4 x Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial engines (later production models featured the Kinsei 46) and improved defensive armament.

Dedicated transport derivatives are denoted with an "L" and derived from the H6K2 and H6K4 models. As these models entered the war, they proved to be very vulnerable to enemy fire, hence the development of the H6K5 series.

The H6K5 has self-sealing fuel tanks for better armor protection for the crew and systems. In addition, the position of the open bow gun was completely removed and replaced by a covered rear machine gun turret above the flight deck of the cockpit.

Despite these improvements, the H6K was never really up to the demanding and ever-changing mission of the Pacific War, which is why production of this model was limited.

As the wartime production line evolved and advanced, the H6K "Mavis" also adopted the Allied codename "Tillie" to represent the special transport derivative of the H6K series. About 215 H6Ks were made by and for Kawanishi. Japan ceased such operations in 1945 and Indonesia in 1948.

The H6K was replaced in production by the more powerful Kawanishi-branded H8K series of airships, which are detailed elsewhere on this website.

Kawanishi H6K (Mavis) Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes