46th Tactical Missile Squadron The 46th Tactical Missile Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its 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 . History . Airlift Operations . 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 C - 47 Skytrain s 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 . The squadron deployed to Okinawa in August 1945 after the Japanese capitulation and became part of the American occupation forces . It replaced its C - 47s with longer range C - 46 Commando aircraft and moved to Japan and the Korean peninsula during late 1945 . Its initial post - war missions included the evacuation of former Allied prisoners of war ; later primarily cargo transport missions in the occupied areas of Japan and Korea during the postwar era . The squadron inactivated in 1949 in Japan due to budget constraints ; its aircraft being assigned to other units as part of the consolidation . Cold War Air Defense . The squadron was activated as the 46th Air Defense Missile Squadron ( BOMARC ) in 1959 at McGuire AFB , New Jersey , and stood alert during the Cold War , with IM - 99A ( later CIM - 10 ) BOMARC surface to air antiaircraft missiles . The squadron was tied into a Semi - Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) direction center which could use analog computers to process information from ground radars , picket ships and airborne aircraft to accelerate the display of tracking data at the direction center to quickly direct the missile site to engage hostile aircraft . It trained personnel and prepared for operation of the BOMARC surface - to - air missiles ; operated and maintained BOMARC missiles and associated equipment , trained personnel , and maintained a capability to intercept and destroy hostile aircraft until inactivation . The squadron was inactivated on 31 October 1972 , one of the last two BOMARC missile squadrons inactivated . The BOMARC missile site was located east - southeast of McGuire AFB at . Although geographically separated from the base , it was an off base facility of McGuire and the squadron received administrative and logistical support from McGuire . Consolidation . The 46th Troop Carrier Squadron and the 46th Air Defense Missile Squadron were consolidated on 19 September 1985 as the 46th Tactical Missile Squadron while remaining inactive . Lineage . 46th Troop Carrier Squadron 46th Air Defense Missile Squadron