'I'm restoring a WW2 fighter plane on my driveway'

Most people use their driveways to park their cars, but one aircraft enthusiast has turned his into a workshop to rebuild an iconic World War Two fighter plane.

Julian Mitchell is currently six years into the process of restoring a 1941 Hawker Hurricane, and recently relocated the project outside his home in Kirtlington, Oxfordshire.

The Hurricane played a key role in the skies throughout Britain's conflict with the Axis powers, and has been described as the "unsung hero" of the Battle of Britain.

Mitchell said he had been interested in rebuilding vintage aeroplanes for a long time, and described the restoration of the iconic single-seat fighter as his "dream project".

"It is purely a hobby and that's working on vintage aeroplanes and anything to do with military aviation history," he told the BBC.

"About six years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a Hurricane restoration project and been working on that ever since then really."

The Hurricane was responsible for 60% of German losses during the Battle of Britain, which took place in the skies over southern England in the summer of 1940.

Although often overshadowed by the Supermarine Spitfire, the aeroplanes played a crucial role in victory, practically halting Adolf Hitler's planned invasion of the British Isles.

Later in the global conflict, Hurricanes fought in the defence of Malta, aided the desert war in North Africa and led bombing raids against Imperial Japan - before being retired from service in 1947.

The aircraft Mitchell is restoring began its life in Canada, where it was constructed in 1941, before surviving the war with two Canadian squadrons.

"Following the war it was scrapped in 1945, ended up on a farmstead up in Toronto somewhere in Canada where it laid for the best part of 40 years before it was brought back over to this country in the late 1980s," Mitchell explained.

"It went through two or three hands where people decided they might have a go at rebuilding it and then it ended up with me."

After six years of restoration work, Mitchell said the Hurricane was "60%" finished.

"I've got an awful lot of work to do yet," he said.

"The airframe will be finished fairly soon but there's all the fitting out of the systems - there's hydraulic systems, pneumatic systems, coolant system, that all has got to go in yet."

Mitchell has based the project on the plane's original drawings and manuals from more than 80 years ago, which he said were "very comprehensive".

A fortnight ago, Mitchell relocated the vintage aircraft from his workshop and onto his driveway.

"It's actually only been on the drive for about two weeks, but we certainly do get lots of people walk past and amazed to see an aeroplane on the drive."

"Ultimately", Mitchell said, his goal was to return the iconic plane to the skies - more than eight decades on from its most famous hour.