Balmer relinquished command of No. 100 Squadron in April 1943, and was posted from the South West Pacific to the European theatre that June. His planned secondment to the RAF was for two years. Partly in an effort to bolster Australian aspirations to form a distinct RAAF group within RAF Bomber Command, in August he was appointed commanding officer of No. 467 Squadron, based at RAF Bottesford, Leicestershire. The squadron had been raised under Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme, and operated Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. Balmer led his unit in a costly raid on Nuremberg the night of 27/28 August, before attacking Hanover in September and October. From its new base at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, Balmer then took No. 467 Squadron through the Battle of Berlin that commenced in November 1943 and continued until March 1944. The statistical likelihood of surviving an operational tour of 30 missions in Bomber Command was never more than 50 per cent, and during the Battle of Berlin, loss rates were far higher. No. 467 Squadron was the only Australian unit to take part in all sixteen heavy attacks against the German capital during the battle. In the same period it also raided Frankfurt, Leipzig, Stettin, Stuttgart, Essen, and Augsburg.