Hobby Master Archive

In 1969 the Blue Angels re-equipped with the McDonnell Douglas two-seat F-4J Phantom II. The first F-4Js for the Blue Angels arrived on December 23, 1968. This was the first time they had used a two-seater and the first time both the Blue Angels and the USAF Thunderbirds flew the same equipment. The F-4 allowed the team to add more maneuvers to their routine increasing it to 22 minutes. The aircraft had lead ballast in the nose to compensate for the lack of the AWG-10 radar. The team operated their F-4Js until 1974.