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Very good question. In the UK, all display pilots have to pass a strict assessment & possess a display pilot's licence before being allowed to perform in public. This is carried out on an annual basis. I'm not sure on the current regulations but the PPL is restricted to certain categories (ratings), usually single, twin, multi-engine & instrument ratings. I'm not sure if the power or performance of the aircraft is taken into account. The holder of a single-engined PPL would need appropriate instruction before taking the conversion test to a twin-engine rating. Instruction & the rating exam itself can be carried out in either their own or a hired aircraft. The test is carried out by a CAA approved examiner. A powerful high-performance fighter like the Spitfire is obviously a completely different prospect to the single-engined Cessnas & Pipers commonly used by flying clubs. If you're fortunate to own one & possess a valid single-engine rated PPL I suppose it would be legal to fly it without further instruction. This would obviously be very stupid & a conversion course or at least a couple of check flights in a Harvard or one of the 2-seater versions of the actual type would be the best way of doing it. This would depend on the individual pilot's experience. The fact that most vintage fighters are taildraggers is another consideration as these are particularly difficult to handle on the ground & when landing for the average private pilot. A taildragger course on something like a Chipmunk might be necessary before going on to the meaty stuff with those huge engines & props out front.

The fact that there were very few 2-seat trainer versions of operational fighters during WWII was the reason for development of high-performance intermediate trainers like the Harvard & Miles Master. Before these were introduced the typical rookie RAF pilots would go straight from a Tiger Moth or Magister elementary trainer with fixed gear on to the operational types. They were expected to fly a powerful, complex single-seater after a short ground briefing & demonstration of the cockpit.
This was one of the reasons for the high casualty rate among rookie fighter pilots in the BoB.

There were also a number of "non-standard" two seat conversion carried out in the field. Mostly done on older war-weary airframes they were used as Sqdn hacks.

Perversely, the Sqdn hacks had the best chance of surviving the war and many were converted back to original.

I once saw a very interesting TV documentary covering the rebuild of the Grace Spitfire from start to finish. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was called or if it's available privately. I believe the project took several years to complete, most of the work being done by Nick Grace himself, encouraged by Carolyn. I do remember that they retained as many original parts as possible, only using new materials where absolutely essential or for safety reasons. Every rivet in the airframe had to be carefully replaced with modern types as these were of a magnesium alloy which corrodes over a period of time. When you think about it, these wartime aircraft were only expected to last for comparatively few hours in service. If they were not destroyed in action they would be replaced by improved types on a regular basis. I'm sure the manufacturers never expected to see them still actively flying some 60 years later.

Before I retired, Spitfire restorer Charles Church would visit our company from time to time. I obviously made a point of chatting to him whenever possible. He told me that if I had a genuine manufacturer's ID plate, he could build me a Spitfire to go with it.

INteresting comments - I've been to the Kissimmee Warbird Restoration Museum - where rebuilding/remaking warbirds is their specialty (especially bombers) .. they too, use original components where at all possible and they can be refurbished, but in the case of wrecks, ... a lot is reverse-engineered new build.

As to the "originality" of warbirds today?  I dare say that even the best of the restorations are model Bs... "bitzer here, bitzfromdere..."

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Look at it this way - how many B-52s flying today are "originals" - are they considered "rebuilds" ??

On "wings discovery channel" there
was a program about a fw190 that
was "rebuilt" about 75% replaced.
The pilot that last flew the plane was
still alive , living in Berlin, He came to
Texas to see the plane, It didn't matter
if only one part was orignial, it mattered
that people cared and had done what
they had to do to keep a piece of
history alive

Bhofmx