Kawaniši H6K typ 97 [Mavis]

Kawanishi H6K Type 97 - přehled verzí

Kawanishi H6K - version overview


j 式 飛行 艇 - Kjúnana shiki hikótei/Flying boat type 97 or
K 式 大型 飛行 艇 - Kjunana shiki daikei hikótei/Large flying boat type 97



Japanese name:?


Reporting code name: Mavis (Tillie)



Designation Aircraft design - description
Kawanishi H6K1 - 9-Shi [col ] 4 prototypes, engines Nakajima Hikari 2,
Kawanishi H6K1 Model 1 original three prototypes, installation of fourteen-cylinder Mitsubishi Kinsei 43
Kawanishi H6K2 11 Mavis 11 aircraft, Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 engines, three-bladed metal propellers
Kawanishi H6K3 Mavis 2 letouny (some sources 4 aircraft), Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 engines, modified H6K2 for transport of 10 - 18 VIP passengers
Kawanishi H6K4 22 Mavis 64 aircraft, the first truly mass - produced machines, engines Mitsubishi Kinsei 43.
Kawanishi H6K4 23 Mavis 63 aircraft, slightly more powerful engines Mitsubishi Kinsei 46,
Kawanishi H6K5 23 Mavis 36 aircraft, powerful engines Mitsubishi Kinsei 51 or Kinsei 53
Kawanishi H6K2-L Tillie 14 transport aircraft, based on the H6K2 version
Kawanishi H6K4-L Tillie 20 transport aircraft, based on the H6K4 version



Made a total of 215 (including 4 prototypes) aircraft of this type.
The production of prototypes took place in the factory anish 航空 機 株式会社 - Kawanishi Kōkūki Kabushiki Kaisha in Nauru [img_6 comment = Japan (JPN)] http: //vcdns.valka.cz/images/flags/jp.gif[/img_6].
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Kawanishi H6K - version overview


九七式飛行艇 - Kyunana shiki hikōtei / Flying boat type 97 or
九七式大型飛行艇 - Kyunana shiki daikei hikótei / Large flying boat type 97 [/b:aaaa]


Japanese name: ?


Reporting code name: Mavis (Tillie)


Aircraft history:
The Japanese Naval Air Force (海軍航空本部 Kaigun Kōkū Hombu), in 1932, issued the 8-Shi specification, this formulated the specifications and requirements for the new aircraft that the Navy required of aircraft manufacturers. The naval aviation this year required the following categories of aircraft: a two-seat fighter aircraft, a deck dive bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft for land bases, a small reconnaissance floatplane, and finally a reconnaissance flying boat. I should also note that the Japanese did not distinguish between a floatplane and a flying boat, a closer distinction being made by size or number of crew members.


Specifications for the flying boat were sent directly to 川西航空機株式会社 - Kawanishi Kōkūki Kabushiki Kaisha in Nauru (hereafter Kawanishi) . In 1932, licensed production of large biplane flying boats type 90-2, better known to us as H3K1, was underway and a more powerful version H3K2 was being prepared. It will be recalled that two flying boats of each version were produced. Now, based on the new specifications, the designers proposed two projects, the first was designated by the letter Q and was a four-engine flying boat, and the second project was a three-engine flying boat designated by the letterR. Based on both projects, small wooden mock-ups were built and blown in a wind tunnel.


The calculations and the results of the aerodynamic tests were used by the Naval Air Force to determine the technical requirements for a completely new, now four-engined flying boat of considerable size; maximum range was required to be at least 2,500 nautical miles (4,630 km), maximum speed was to be at least 160 knots (296 km/h), economical cruising speed was to be around 125 knots (231 km/h), the crew was to be nine, and two aerial torpedoes were to be suspended under the wings. These new requirements were conveyed to Kawanishi through the 9-Shi specifications. Two experienced designers, engineers Yoshio Hashiguchi and Shizuo Kikuhara, led the work on the project, designated S at the factory. Under their direction, a large flying boat of all-metal construction with a parasol-type wing, that is, the wing was above the fuselage and connected to the fuselage by struts. There was a spacious cockpit in front of the leading edge of the wing, and the crew was nine people as required. Nine-cylinder radial engines Nakajima Hikari 2 were chosen to power the prototype. The defensive armament was still weak on the prototypes, consisting of three 7.7 mm calibre machine guns, one each located in the upper and tail gunneries, with the third machine gun designed to fire from the side gunneries in the hull. The bomb armament was infinitely more effective, two torpedoes weighing 806 kg or four bombs weighing 250 kg could be hung from the struts.


The first prototype H6K1 9-Shi flew on 14 July 1937, the flight went very well, the pilots only faulted the aircraft for low stability on the surface, this was due to the low draft. Two more prototypes joined the sea trials in 1937 and a fourth prototype early the following year. The Kaigun Koku Hombu was satisfied with the trials and recommended several changes to the manufacturer before putting it into production - replacing the Hikari engines with Mitsubishi Kinsei twin four-cylinder engines, increasing the aileron area and reshaping the tail gunnery. The modified aircraft were adopted into service as the Naval Flying Boat Type 97 Model 1, or were known as Kawanishi H6K1.


In 1938, a total of eight Type 97 Model 1-1 flying boats (H6K2) were produced. These machines were roughly equivalent to the earlier modified prototypes. The last two flying boats were converted to the following unproduced version.


The new version was to be used for transporting passengers and cargo, it was designated H6K3, the modification consisted in removing the armament, this in case of its introduction in civil airlines, if the aircraft would fly in naval aviation, the armament was to be reduced. The Kaigun Koku Hombu rejected this version on the grounds that delivery of fully armed machines was preferred.


The most numerous version produced is the Type 97 Large Flying Boat Model 2-2, better known to us by its shorter designation H6K4. This version brought major modifications, the fuel supply was almost doubled to 13,409 litres, this was necessary as the new Kinsei 46 engines had higher fuel consumption and it was also expedient to extend the aircraft's range. Further changes were made to the defensive armament. An effective weapon, the Type 99 20 mm air cannon, was installed in the tail gunnery range, and the side gunnery ranges were replaced with convex covers that improved the view while allowing defensive fire to be conducted from them. The dorsal gunnery range was open and could be fired with a type 92 7.7 mm calibre machine gun, and a new open gunnery range was also provided in the bow. Production of this version ran from 1939 until 1942 and yielded a total of 129 flying boats.


The last combat version produced in 1942 was the Type 97 model 2-3 flying boat. Thirty-six aircraft were produced, better known to us as H6K5. There were two significant changes to this version, the most significant was the change in engines, Kinsei engines now in version 53 were used. The second change was the replacement of the forward open gunnery position with a small turret just behind the cockpit.


Going back to the transport versions, the adoption of the H6K3 version did not mean that these flying boats would not have their purely transport versions. Eventually two were produced, both based on the completely disarmed H6K4 version, the earliest transport version was produced between 1940-42 H6K2-L, a total of 14 of these flying boats were produced, and 20 more were built between 1942-43 H6K4-L, these were powered by the more powerful Kinsei 46 engines, otherwise differing only in minor details. Unlike the reconnaissance aircraft, they are distinguishable by the absence of any armament, so the convex gunports on the sides were removed and round windows were added to the fuselage in continuous rows on either side of the fuselage. These boats were used by both the Naval Air Force for transporting cargo and senior officers and by the civil aviation company Dai Nippon Koku K. K. Here they flew until the end of the war. Civilian machines early in the war flew for the naval air force.


The H6K flying boats were given the code name Mavis by Allied intelligence and the transport versions were designated Tillie. This naming is not well known, but is probably due to the small number of transport aircraft produced. Kawanishi produced a total of 215 flying boats in all versions. Production ran until 1943, but by that year only a single H6K4-L had been produced.


Operations:
The Mavis flying boats first intervened in combat on the Chinese battlefield, and after the outbreak of war in the Pacific operated in perhaps every theatre of combat, these aircraft bombing the Dutch East Indies, Port Moresby in New Guinea, the Australian towns of Townsville and Mossman, and other targets. From 1942 onwards, the design flaws of the Mavis began to become fully apparent - weak defensive armament, a complete lack of protection for fuel tanks and crew compartments. In addition, the H6Ks were slow and too large, and so their losses increased, and by 1943 they were mostly in second-line units, their numbers steadily declining, whether due to losses caused by the enemy or their poor technical condition. Transport aircraft continued to fly until the end of the war even at the cost of possible losses. A few planes flew shortly after the war, these planes carried green humility crosses in the places usual for Japanese Hinomaru emblems, participated in auxiliary transport flights, then all the machines were scrapped.


Units with flying boats in their armament: 8. Kokutai, 14. Kokutai, 851. Kokutai, 901. Kokutai, Sasebo Kokutai, Toko Kokutai, Yokohama Kokutai and Yokosuka Kokutai.
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Použité prameny:
] René J. Francillon Ph.D., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland, Reprinted 1990, ISBN-0-87021-313-X
Robert C. Mikesh and Shorzoe Abe, Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941, Naval Institute Press, London, 1990, ISBN: 1-155750-563-2
William Green, War Planes of the Second World War, Flying Boats, Volume Five, MacDonald, London, Revised and reprinted 1969, ISBN 356-01449-5
David Donald, The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, Barnes & Nobles Books, rok 1997, ISBN-10: 0760705925
Tadeusz Januszewski a Kryzysztof Zalewski, Japońskie samoloty marynarski 1912-1945, tiel 2, Lampart, rok 2000, ISBN 83-86776-00-05
Václav Němeček, Vojenská letadla 3 díl, druhé doplněné vydání, Naše Vojsko, Praha 1992, ISBN 80-206-0117-1
Pavel Dvořák, Kawanishi H6K „Mavis“, HPM č. 8 a č. 9, ročník VII – 1997, ISSN 1210-1427
L+K 6/1992, Letadla 39-45
L+K 5/1969, Letadla 1939-1945
http://www.go2war2.nl/artikel/535
www.pacificwrecks.com
www.lemaire.happyhost.org
http://www.combinedfleet.com/ijna/h6k.htm
pzkpfw.tripod.com
archiv autora
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