Although Bernaldo had dreamt of flying as a child, it was not until her second marriage that she began training under flying instructor José Rodríguez y Díaz de Lecea in a de Havilland DH.60 Moth. Bernaldo received her licence from the Real Aeroclub de España at the Getafe aerodrome south of Madrid. She took part in various demonstrations and flying exhibitions in northern Spain, including those in Vitoria, San Sebastián, Oviedo, Gijón and Vigo. She also flew over the car of the Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia when he arrived in A Coruña in 1929, throwing flowers out as he passed below. The same year, as a result of public acclaim, she received the military aviation insignia from the Royal Aero Club, a rare distinction. A relationship developed with her flying instructor Díaz de Lecea, lead to a secret divorce with her husband in 1929. She was one of the first women to take advantage of the Ley del Divorcio de la Segunda República (Divorce Law of the Second Republic).
