Bf 109E flown by Egon Troha of 9./JG 3 in October 1940. Troha was forced to ditch this Emil near Shepherdswell, England after sustaining radiator damage in a dogfight with Spitfires on October 29th. He was taken prisoner and sent to a camp in Canada. While there, he was involved in a prison riot and lost an eye. He was repatriated to Germany after this injury and posted to a training unit for the remainder of the war.
Troha's Emil was originally built as an E-3 at the Wiener-Neustadt plant but converted to E-4 standard in the field, gaining the later style canopy and probably MG-FF/M cannons. It was listed in JG 3 loss records as an E-4. Camouflage pattern is RLM 71 olive green and 02 gray over 65 light blue coming high up the fuselage sides. The yellow cowling and rudder have open spots to show previous markings; "Erika" on the nose and 5 kills plus a top hat in crosshairs on the rudder. The meaning of this marking is unknown as this plane was not Troha's usual mount. The new stule emblem og III/JG 3, a battle axe on a white shield was added after the yellow cowling. Prop spinner was black with a 1/4 section in white. The squadron's emblem is painted on the fuselage just aft of the canopy. The seahorse symbolizes the fact that the original cadre of pilots were slated to operate naval 109's from the German aircraft carrier, Graf Zeppelin, before the ship's construction was abandoned.
