This one will make you cry Daniel. I used to know Pete Thorn, who was an ex-RAF pilot who had workerd with the BBMF, and, at the time I knew him, was a University Air Squadron instructor, and also displayed the red Spit XIV, G-Fire, now registered in the 'States.
Anyway, Pete's Dad was Bill Thorn, the chief Avro test pilot for the Lancs during the war. Pete told me a story of being in a Lanc, possibly with his Dad, or maybe a ferry pilot, can't remember now, just after the war. They flew this Lanc to an airfield, I think in Cumbria, to join many more that were retired, and would ultimately face the scrap man's torch. They taxied in, parked up, and shut down the engines. Even before they got the rear entrance hatch open to disembark, a crane had arrived, and swung a huge metal ball on a chain, knocking the still hot engines out of their mounts, to be 'weighed in', or maybe salvaged, separately!
Now that's what I call ruthless crime!