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Malone, with his Irish heritage, must have felt at home in "A" flight because the second deputy leader was Francis Doninique Casey, an Irishman who kept the pilots amused with an endless repertoire of stories. He could also fly: in fact, his mastery over the Pup had become legendary among his contemporaries. This quite possibly created a rivalry considering Malone's own talent with this type of machine. "Kiwi" Beamish and Jimmy Glen, also in "A" flight, were slow beginners who later blossomed into valuable pilots and the deputy leader, H. G. Travers from Wallingham, Surrey, was as solid as they came.

"C" flight had its second contact with the enemy on 14 February while doing a noon hour line patrol. Mack, the leader, and Raymond Collishaw, his self-appointed deputy, filled out the second and third combat reports in which they noted two brief skirmishes with two-seat reconnaissance machines. Collishaw came close to one of two speckled grey tow-seaters on the succeeding day. His 40 rounds forced the enemy pilot into a spin and, while gliding down to watch his adversary, Collishaw cut the mixture too fine and his engine cut out forcing him to land close to his own lines.

While the Pups of No. 3 (Naval) Squadron were beginning to spar with the enemy machines, Malone was temporarily grounded. There were only 12 serviceable machines in the squadron and being a supernumerary member of "A" flight, he had to wait until this problem was solved. The pilots at Vert Galant were becoming more excited with each passing day and everyone had a bet as to who would score the squadron's first confirmed victory. Fog, mist, and a fine drizzle kept the pilots grounded for three consecutive days adding to the nervous speculation, and to increase their discomfort they received a visit from Général Lyautey, Director of the French Air Service, and a host of British and French brass.

Naturally the pilots were keeping pace with the daily war news. At this point the Germans had withdrawn from an untenable position on the salient between Arras and Bapaume, thus straightening their trenches and creating a new line three or four miles farther east. This disrupted the British plans for a Spring Offensive in the Lens area as all of the enemy artillery had been moved to new positions necessitating that the RFC rephotograph the German Hindenburg Line. This was a tedious operation and, to compound matters, the British artillery, now situated too far back to assist in an Infantery assault, had to be moved forward.

RFC Headquarters for the 22nd (Army) Wing deemed it essential that the F.E.2bs of No. 18 Squadron, RFC, from Bertangles aerodrome carry out a reconnaissance of the new German trenches where where they swung southwest in front of Cambrai, as soon as possible. No. 3 (Naval) Squadron was called upon to provide the escort, "C" flight being chosen to do the job. The weather conditions, with heavy cloud and strong winds, were not condusive to such an operation and the little Pups were blown all over the sky: consequently every pilot was forced to set down at a different aerodrome. It was "C" flight's turn again the following day to fly cover for the F.E.2bs. They provided such a good effort this time that the 22nd Wing sent a letter of praise to Squadron Commander Mulock, congratulating him on the way they had stayed with the 4 reconnaissance machines both to and from Cambrai. This was the last operational flight by No. 3 (Naval) Squadron from Vert Galant.

The next morning, 28 February 1917, the 12 serviceable Pups were flown to Bertangles while the remaining machines were dismantled and travelled by flatbed lorry in convoy with the squadron's ground personnel. The new aerodrome was located seven miles directly south of their last position and closer to the Somme River. When the men and vehicles reached their destination, the pilots, who had arived by air an hour earlier, pitched in to help unload the lorries and get things into shape. The men and officers worked hard all afternoon to provide a semblance of order to the living quarters as they were expecting the arrival of Wing Commander Chambers from Dunkirk who was to stay overnight. Chambers had just been appointed to General Trenchard's staff, RFC, and been given command of the RNAS squadrons on the Somme.

Jack Malone was finally assigned his own aircraft, Pup 9898, the fourth prototype, equiped with an 80-hp Clerget engine. He had flown the same machine during his last escort duty at Vert Galant but it had required the installation of a new top left plane. When the work was completed he gave her a five-minute test and pronounced her ready for action.

March 4th dawned with a heavy frosty haze hanging low over the countryside. As the morning wore on, it became sunny, clear, and cold. Both "A" and "C" flights took off at five-minute intervals, the former to escort a pair of F.E.2bs from No. 18 Squadron, RFC, and the latter a similar number of Morane Parasols of No. 3 Squadron, RFC. Shortly after crossing the lines Malone saw a few random AA shell bursts while flying in his usual position as high man at the rear of the"A" flight vee formation. Near these bursts he spotted some enemy fighters that shadowed the Pups for half an hour: then all hell broke loose. Without warning, ten Halberstadts pounced out of the bright sun from behind then began to fire. An exciting ten minutes ensued and, of the five allied flyers who later filled out combat reports, only Malone could say with any degree of certainty that he had inflicted damage on the enemy. He was pursuing an attacker who was sitting on "Kiwi" Beamish's tail when he was forced to break away to defend himself from another attack. He got off some shots against this new foe which hit around the pilot's seat. The enemy aircraft side-slipped badly while diving and was last seen by Malone in a vertical attitude heading towards Nanancourt southeast of Bapaume. While his attention was momentarily diverted the enemy machine that had been on Beamish's tail attacked him. When he eased out of his shallow dive and tried to join combat his antagonist turned away and departed with the other enemy aircraft. When "A" flight returned to the aerodrome they found that"C" flight, who were escorting the Moranes from No. 3 Squadron, RFC, on a photo reconnaissance of the same general area, had been attacked by five enemy machines but had suffered no casualties. Thus ended the first real scrap No. 3 (Naval) Squadron had with the enemy. No one was hit, just a few shots through the outer wings from machine-gun fire. They felt invincible.

This euphoria lasted just 30 minutes, when a lone aircraft from "B" flight landed with some bad news. "B" flight, led by Tom Vernon, had dived on three Albatros Scouts while six miles west of Cambrai, breaking up the enemy formation. As the Pups were reforming for another attack they encoutered six more Albatros just souteast of Bapaume. Led by Vernon, they flew straight at their new opponents firing as they closed the gap. Both friend and foe divided into individual combats, each trying to outclimb the other. For half an hour the Pups and Albatros chased each other in ever widening circles slowly drifting east with the prevailing wind. When over the village on Inchy-en-Artois, Hank Wambolt, a 25-year old Canadian from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, who had been under attack by four Albatros Scouts from Jasta 1, fell out of his aircraft as it turned over at 6,000 feet above the local churches just as the faithful were leaving Sunday Mass. Ltn. Herbert Schröder of Jasta 1 received credit for this victory, his first. Another Canadian in "B" flight, James Percy White, a Winnipeg native, came to grief near Vis-en-Artois, the victim of Hans Kummetz, leader of Jasta 1. A third pilot, L. A. Powell, whose home was Hornchurch, Essex, England, had been shot through the chest but managed to fly west for 15 minutes until he crashed in the allied trenches at Bertrancourt. He was rushed to hospital and operated on, but died three days later. Wigglesworth was not heard from until late that night. He had landed unhurt near Le Crotoy at the mouth of the Somme. The flight leader, T.C. Vernon, was the only pilot who returned safely. He had lost sight of the other Pups form "B" flight shortly after the dogfight began. The loss of three pilots was an expensive beginning for No. 3 (Naval) Squadron. On the credit side, they had claimed four decisive and four indecisive combats. Years later, German records were to prove just how optimistic the allied pilots had been, as no losses were admitted to by Jasta 1. This does not agree with the reports of the inhabitants of Inchy-en-Artois who witnessed two Albatros Scouts fall to the ground, one at Cagnicourt, the other at Baralle.

As if by design, a one-inch snowfall brought this bittersweet day to an end and for the next five days the weather remained sour. There were winds of 30 to 35 mph, with blowing snow, followed by heavy mists and rain. Only one operational patrol was flown during this period. When the sun finally reappeared, "A" and "C" flights provided another photo escort for No. 3 (RFC) Squadron's Moranes. On this occasion Flight Commander Bell and "Tiny" Travers, his deputy, engaged a pair of camouflaged two-seaters, Bell sending one down out of control. Malone, flying Pup N.6179 (Baby Mine), while his regular bus was being serviced, experienced an inopportune gun jam when one of the two-seaters passed within 25 feet of his sights. He was unable to clear the jam so he landed at No. 3 (RFC) Squadron's aerodrome.

That evening A.W. "Nick" Carter and George Armstrong arrived from No. 3 (Naval) Wing to join No. 3 (Naval) Squadron while a wild party was in progress in the Officers' Mess. Earlier that day Lloyd Breadner and S.L. Bennett, a Devon man, had shown up as "B" flight replacements. All four were treated to an extended welcome as inclement weather kept everyone grounded and indoors. Almost every night the mess resounded with the ribald sounds of alcohol induced chatter, and several officers from No.31 Squadron, RFC, also domiciled on Bertangles aerodrome, were invited to join in the fun.