JAckoNicko
Thats a fair point and i wasnt at all meaning to imply that the Hurricane and Spitfire were throw away designs. As you say they are still going strong in many respects but there was as they say a war on and corners sometimes had to be cut and perhaps the materials spec was a bit looser than say on a modern airliner. Oddly enough i though one of the reasons we ended up on the winning side was because unlike the Germans who engineered everything (at least in the earlier years) we , perhaps at items through necessity, did recognise that life cycles in war are short and that a better version is always just around the corner. Of course by 1944 Germany was on an synthetic/ersatz/rationed economy for almost everything and they couldnt make some of the futuristic designs they came up with and if they could it was in tiny inefectual quantities
However the point I was trying to make is that today they fly for fun and to remind us of times no one (well almost know one) wants to repeat ie a beautiful continent torn apart in war. They are not being sent up to defend London or rain fire on Hamburg they are just decorating the sky looking and sounding wonderful. However if there was to be a fatal accident and the cause was a known engine problem then the BBMF would be grounded and for good too and that would be an awful shame , in fact a tragedy because as any real memory of the horrors of WW2 are almost completely gone , younger generations need something to get them interested in what happened and why and these wonderful preserved aircraft are probably the most inspiring tools for that job.