Any chance it was rebuilt and changed colors? I’d imagine at that point the Isreali’s would have welcomed another Spitfire into their arsenal.

Some have suggested that this aircraft, which was downed on 15 May 1948, formed the basis of D-130, the first Israeli Spitfire. Others have dismissed this as unlikely as the port wing was ripped off in the belly landing, as seems apparent by the multiple photos of the aircraft being craned from the water.

Closer examination of the posted image shows that the Avimos have been disconnected from the cooling pipes, flap rod etc. The wing fillets appear to have been cut through for speed of dismantling. With the evidence of the wing still attached in the one shot I have, I suspect that the aircraft made a good belly landing on the beach with a seized or minimum rotating engine. The dismantling operation seems to have been substantially hampered/delayed by the incoming tide, by which time a crane was used to lift the fuselage, with Starboard wing still attached, out of the water.

I lean toward this aircraft being capable of restoration to flight by the standards and ingenuity of the time and then circumstances.

Mark