This is a great but very sad picture of Bu. 153072. (Blue Angel #1) Just seven weeks after this photo was taken it was involved in a fatal mid-air collision with Bu. 153081 (Blue Angel #4) in a tragic accident during arrival practice at NAS Lakehurst in New Jersey on July 26th, 1973. The accident occurred while #1 and his wingman were climbing at low level and joining up with the other two aircraft to form the diamond when the lead and slot aircraft collided. Pilot USMC Capt. Mike Murphy and passenger ADJ1 Ron Thomas flying in #4 both perished. USN LCDR Skip Umstead, the Team Leader died in the aircraft pictured. Somehow his passenger Plane Captain ADJ.1C Gerald Harvey seated in the back of this aircraft ejected and survived with only minor injuries. The Blues usually fly airshows solo but because they were in transit from Pensacola to Lakehurst, they each had their respective plane captains on board in addition to the pilots. This special aircraft was just the second F-4 production model of "J" series and was the #1 BA aircraft flown in the now famous "Threshold" Blue Angel documentary in 1970-71 by Cmdr. Harley Hall (who was later KIA in Vietnam flying a F-4J) and remained the lead ship all the way up to the time of the accident. The rest of the 1973 BA airshow season was cancelled after this crash and sadly it also marked the end of their use of the Phantom as their demonstration aircraft. Thank you very much for sharing this. May 25, 2010