The Kyūshū J7W Shinden (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") is a World War II Japanese prototype, propeller-driven fighter plane with wings at the rear of the fuselage, a nose-mounted canard, and a pusher engine.
[2][3] The idea of a canard-based design originated with Lieutenant Commander Masayoshi Tsuruno of the technical staff of the IJN in early 1943.
Even before the first prototype took to the air, the Navy ordered the J7W1 into production,[9] with a quota of thirty Shinden a month given to Kyushu's Zasshonokuma factory and 120 from Nakajima's Handa plant.
[4][10][11] Two more short flights were made, a total of 45 minutes airborne, one each on the same days as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred, before the War's end.
Flights were successful but showed a marked torque pull to starboard (due to the powerful engine), some flutter of the propeller blades, and vibration in the extended drive shaft.
[13] Its forward fuselage is currently on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex (at Dulles Airport) of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.
[14] A 1:1 scale model of the J7W1, built by a then-unknown production company, was unveiled at the Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum in July 2022.