Battle of the Bismarck Sea
Balmer came down with malaria in November 1942, and went on three weeks sick leave the following month; he returned to operations on 2 January 1943. In March, during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, No. 100 Squadron launched its last torpedo attack; bad weather prevented all but two aircraft finding their targets, and no hits were registered. Towards the end of the month the unit dropped of bombs on Japanese installations in Salamaua.