ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 184211
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| Date: | Saturday 15 May 1948 |
| Time: | 10:00 LT |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk IX |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF) |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Herzliya Beach, Herzliya Pituah, Tel Aviv -
 Israel
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Cairo West, Egypt |
According to link #1, on May 15th, 1948, an Egyptian Spitfire was involved in a low-level attack on Sde Dov airfield near Tel Aviv when it was hit by a very lucky shot from a 20 mm machine-gun manned by Sam Rose, a British Machalnik**. The Spitfire crashed/belly landed on the beach at Herzlia, Herzliya Pituah, Tel Aviv. The pilot was badly shocked and became a prisoner-of-war. Parts of his crashed aircraft were subsequently used for constructing the IAF’s first Spitfire which was built out of junk left by the Royal Air Force (RAF) when the British Forces were evacuated from Palestine.
The airframe was used for spares recovery by the Israeli Air Force. The port wing was removed by technicians, as other shots show it still attached. 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.
Herzliya is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District. Its western, beachfront area is called Herzliya Pituah and is one of Israel's most affluent neighborhoods
(**Machalnik is a term used to describe the group of overseas volunteers who fought alongside Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. They were mostly Jews but also non-Jews who arrived from all over the world)
Sources:
1. http://www.machal.org.il/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=176&lang=en
2. https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?86224-Interesting-Spitfire-image
3. http://101squadron.com/101real/spitfires.html
4. Photo of wreckage: https://www.reddit.com/r/Warpics/comments/pwv8xv/egyptian_spitfire_fighter_shot_down_during_the/
5. https://www.mahal-idf-volunteers.org/about/Machal.pdf
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzliya
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Feb-2016 14:10 | gerard57 | Added |
| 15-Nov-2017 21:40 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jan-2020 20:22 | stehlik49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 23-Aug-2023 21:35 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator]] |
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