P/O G. K. Gilroy was wounded from shell splinters when his Spitfire (X4271) was shot down on 31 st August, 1940. He baled out but was attacked by civilians who mistook him for a German parachutist. Fortunately a woman bus conductress recognized his RAF uniform and intervened. He was taken to King George V Hospital at Ilford for treatment. His aircraft crashed onto a house, No. 14 Hereford Road, Wanstead, but the only casualty was a dog. The Mayor of Dagenham was so appalled after hearing of the incident, that he visited Gilroy in hospital and handed him a cheque for ten pounds. Thereafter, when Gilroy shot down an enemy plane, he would buy a round of drinks for his fellow pilots, telling them that they were ‘On the Mayor of Dagenham’