A_A, is that Stephen Gray's ( or something like that) used to run Coventry Climax?
I watched his engineer rebuild (or build) a Hurricane at Coningsby. His was in the corner next to the BBMF Hurri and he kept poping over to compare bits, fabricate what was missing etc.
I think it took a couple of years.
In the dark ages parts were swapped and bartered. I was looking at a stack, yes a stack, of Spitfire tail tyres a couple of weeks ago. Looks like lots of bit are off the shelf such as transparencies.
The Dakota could do with a new drift sight though.