Confusion over pre-war Japanese fighters was so complex many fictional or misidentified types received code names.
After the Pearl Harbor attack military intelligence gathered every piece of downed Japanese aircraft they could find. From that operation they came up with this aircraft. They found a manufacturing plate with the words Nogoya Sento, they thought that was a manufacturer, it was a plant location. From the wings and tail group, it looks like they found parts of an Aichi type 99 Val.
Given the allied code name ‘BEN’ after one of the 5th Air Force Intelligence officers, the code was dropped in less than a year.
It was 1943 before the war department figured out there was no such a plane.
All Aero 