46th Troop Carrier Squadron

46th Tactical Missile Squadron
46th Air Defense Missile Squadron CIM-10 Bomarc missile battery
Active	1942-1949; 1959-1972
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Troop Carrier, Surface to Air Missile
Role	Airlift, Air defense
Size	squadron
Motto(s)	The First and the Finest (1959-1972)
Insignia
46th Air Defense Missile Squadron emblem (approved 5 May 1960)
46th Troop Carrier Squadron emblem (approved 13 January 1943)

The 46th Tactical Missile Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 35th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC) at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. It was last active in 1972.

The squadron was first activated under the 317th Transport Group (later 317th Troop Carrier Group), an element of Air Transport Command (later I Troop Carrier Command) in May 1942 as the group expanded from three to four squadrons. The group and squadron equipped with Douglas C-47 Skytrains and trained at several airfields in Texas, the midwest and the southeast. It also performed various airlift missions as part of its training. The squadron deployed to Australia, arriving in January 1943 as an element of Fifth Air Force. It made numerous flights in unarmed planes over the Owen Stanley Range transporting reinforcement and supplies to Wau, Papua New Guinea, where enemy forces were threatening a valuable Allied airdrome, for which it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. It performed paratroop drops at Nadzab (the first airborne operation in the Southwest Pacific) and Noemfoor in New Guinea; Tagaytay, Luzon, and Corregidor and Aparri in the Philippines. Also performed cargo airlift, supply and evacuation, and other assigned missions along the northern coast of New Guinea; the Dutch East Indies and in the Philippines as part of MacArthur's island hopping offensive against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific. This included supplying guerillas in Mindanao, Cebu, and Panay. In April 1945, it bombed Carabao Island with drums of napalm.