To support the development of the Shin Meiwa's ideas, the Americans provided a single Grumman HU-16 Albatross flying boat, which was disassembled, reverse engineered and reassembled into a flying testbed aircraft, referred to as the "UF-XS". The converted flying boat featured numerous adaptations, including a novel boundary layer control system to provide enhanced Short Takeoff/Landing (STOL) performance, while the Albatross's two Wright R-1820 radial engines were supplemented by two Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engines on the aircraft's wings, with an additional General Electric T58 turboshaft inside the aircraft's hull to drive the boundary layer control system. The UF-XS also featured a new T-tail arrangement, hull-based deflectors, and a rounded stubby nose radome which resembled that of the P5M Marlin.