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Soon after the advent of aircraft and submarines during World War I, the combined operation of those two weapons were considered by many countries. However, it was only the Imperial Japanese Navy that could put it to practical use. At the outbreak of the Pacific War, many large-sized submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy were equipped with catapult and small observation-type aircraft designed to attack harbors and to bomb the U.S. mainland. Acknowledging the success of former attacks by the Imperial Japanese Navy, it decided to plan surprise attack missions to the Panama canal by special submarineborne aircraft at the beginning of 1942. The plane was the Aichi M6A1 Seiran, designed exclusively fot this one exceptional mission. It was in May 1942 when the Aichi Aircraft Company received specifications to develop and produce a special attack bomber. At first, the use of the then new Suisei bomber with some modifications was proposed, but the conversion was found impractical because of the difficulty to have interchangeability of major assemblies. On November 1943, the first prototype made its maiden flight. Undergoing several improvements, the Aichi Aircraft Company received an order for limited production from the Navy in May 1944.