Attack Squadron 46 (VA-46) was the first jet-equipped attack squadron and one of the last two light attack squadrons in the Navy.
VA-46 officially was established on 24 May 1955 in a ceremony at NAS Cecil Field, Florida. Equipped with the F9F-8 Cougar, the squadron deployed in 1956 for the first time on board the USS Randolph (CVA-15) with Air Task Group 202, taking the AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile on its first overseas deployment. Upon return, VA-46 upgraded to the new A4D-2 (A-4B) Skyhawk jet attack aircraft in March 1958.
Over the next 33 years, VA-46 sailed on 23 major deployments--on board the USS Intrepid (CVA-11), the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42), the Shangri-la (CVA-38), the Saratoga (CVA-60), the Forrestal (CVA-59), the John F. Kennedy (CVA-67), the America (CV-66), and the Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69).
In addition to responding to many international crises during its existence, VA-46 launched aircraft into combat on three of its deployments. The Clansmen's A-4Es flew combat sorties over Vietnam for three days in 1967 before a devastating fire took the Forrestal out of action. On 14 April 1986, VA-46 A-7Es launched from the America and struck radar sites in Libya as part of a retaliatory action in response to a terror bombing. In August 1990, VA-46's scheduled transition to the F/A-18C Hornet was canceled by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and the Clansmen deployed to the Red Sea on board the John F. Kennedy on four days' notice. On 17 January 1991, VA46's A-7Es participated in the first strikes against Iraq as part of Operation Desert Storm. The Clansmen flew 369 combat sorties-without loss-over Iraq and Kuwait during the 44-day war, bringing the combat career of the Navy's A-7s to an end.
After return from the Gulf War, VA-46 was disestablished on 30 June 1991.