At that time in the ORB, there were lots of missions being flown so it stands to reason that, if they were in the midst of removing the stripes, it's possible the cleaning operations got interrupted by mission orders.
Consistent with the Spitfire Production summary, The ORB shows MH779 remaining with 403 through August and is shown on strength for that month. It's not recorded in any losses. The microfilmed records for September seem to be missing except for the first two days but it's not on the squadron in October.
Based on this info, Geo, I would suggest that the aircraft being craned in your pic is not MH779 and that it's most likely MK857.