Corrected entry: When the Spitfire ditches in the Channel, it floats for a while. Most unlikely. The Merlin engine weighed over three quarters of a ton and would have dragged the aircraft down almost immediately.
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Correction: It doesn't matter what the engine weighs, it depends upon how much water the entire aircraft displaces. The physics don't need arguing about. On June 1 1940 Jack Potter ditched his Spitfire in the Channel during the Dunkirk evacuation. It stayed afloat long enough for him to climb out of the cockpit and wait for the French fishing vessel La Jolie Mascotte to pick him up more than eight minutes later. It happened, so it's possible.