GEORGE was actually the Kawanishi N1K2 Shiden (Violet Lightning), the unlikely descendant of a floatplane fighter design, the N1K1 REX (see NASM collection).
The Kawanishi N1K1 (Allied codename REX) was the only airplane designed specifically for this purpose to fly during World War II.
Kawanishi flew the first N1K1-J land-based fighter on December 27, 1942.
Kawanishi submitted two designs for monoplane flying boats, including the "Type Q" with four engines and the "Type R" with three.
Kawanishi replied with a new design, the "Type S", that had been evolved from the two earlier submissions.
The Type S was accepted, and the first of four prototypes of the "H6K1", as the IJN referred to it, performed its initial flight on 14 July 1936, with Katsuji Kondo at the controls.
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