153076 was assigned to the Blue Angels for all five of the years the F-4 was used by the team. It had various position numbers during the 1969 - 1973 teams, and in 1970 was assigned as number 6, one of the solo aircraft. In the slide the crew under the fuselage is installing one of the dummy Sparrow missiles.

1969 was the first year the Blue Angels performed with the F-4J. BuNo. 153076 managed to make it through all 5 of the Phantom II years, 1969-1973. It had various team assignments: #3 in 1969, #6 in 1970, #3 in 1971, #7 in 1972, and #6 in 1973. #7 is the team's Narrator a/c and also is the spare a/c in case one of the six show a/c have a mechanical issue. In the background is the Blue Angel's C-121J support aircraft. It was in use from 1968 through the end of 1970 when it was replaced by a C-130.

Seeing the mighty Phantom thrown around as a formation team aircraft was certainly memorable. This Blue Angels bird later went on to become an EF-4J with VAQ-33

Another shot of Blue Angels ship '6' - this time plus '5', which was Bu Aer 153876 (c/n 2450) - lost 7.8.73 during airshow at Lake Charles, LA. Pilot ejected safely, but shortly after the Blue Angels transitioned to the more manageable A-4. Look at the serial numbers - they happened to be almost a mirror image too! It may appear like a Photoshop clone job, but I can assure everyone it's straight from the slide. Quite a performance for big heavy jets

All six Blue Angels (153072/1, 153081/2, 153084/3, 153829/4, 153876/5 & 153076/6) along with their support KC-130F. At the end of the following year, the team re-equipped with the smaller A-4F