Bertaud was selected to be the copilot in the WB-2 Columbia attempting the transatlantic crossing for the Orteig Prize in 1927.

In World War I, Bertaud served in the U.S. Army Air Service as a lieutenant.

Bertaud, Hill and Philip Payne took off in the overweight plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

The plane did not make it to the destination; only a 34-foot (10 m) section of wing was found 700 miles (1,100 km) east of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

[2] In 1928, the Ontario Surveyor General named a number of lakes in the northwest of the province to honour aviators who had perished during 1927, mainly in attempting oceanic flights.