The first U.S. Navy McDonnell YF4H-1 <i>Phantom II</i> prototype (BuNo 142259) at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Missouri (USA), on 5 June 1958, eight days after its first flight. 142259 crashed near Edwards Air Force Base, California (USA), due to a failure of the aft access door of the right engine during the 296th flight in its flight test program. The test pilot Gerald Huelsbeck initiated the seat ejection sequence but was killed when he ejected too low for the parachute to deploy.
U.S. Navy
Official U.S. Navy photo <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/usn/usn-71000/usn-710171-f4h-1.html">USN 710171</a> from the U.S. Navy <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.history.navy.mil">Naval History and Heritage Command</a>