travelled through her home village of ditchling in east sussex. representatives from the royal british legion stood with flags as they waited to honour dame vera. there was also a private service at the crematorium chapel which included music from a buglerfrom the royal marines. it's emerged a schoolgirl from london had a hand in the raf‘s victory in the battle of britain. she helped improve the firepower of the airforce's new fighters, the spitfire and the hurricane, which were key to defeating the german luftwaffe. sophie raworth explains. newsreel: way up in the sky there are messerschmitts, junkers, heinkels and dorniers, that are going to get the thrashing of their lives. july, 1940, and nazi germany is beginning the first of many bombing raids in what became known as the battle of britain. but the raf‘s pilots managed to fight off the luftwaffe and defend these shores in their spitfires and hurricanes. it is the most famous plane from world war ii. it played a crucial role in the battle of britain. but what we didn't know