History of Cubana de Aviación of its fleet, opting to replace its long-range piston-prop Super Constellations with turboprop aircraft, and to expand its existing Vickers Viscount turboprop fleet in the immediate future. Cubana placed orders for four long-range Bristol Britannia (Model 318) and four Vickers Super Viscount (VV-818) aircraft, all turboprops, for its international services (which included Madrid, New York, Mexico City, Miami, Montego Bay, Nassau, Port-au-Prince), and for some of its domestic routes (Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Varadero). The first Bristol Britannia (CU-T668) was delivered in late 1958, and was placed in service in the airline's New York route. The new Britannias and Super
Vickers Valiant military aircraft. It was followed by the Vanguard, a passenger turboprop designed in 1959, and the Vickers VC10, a jet passenger aircraft in 1962, also used as a military transport and tanker by the RAF. The Valiant was a conservative design of the era, having a shoulder-mounted wing and four Rolls-Royce Avon RA.3 turbojet engines, each providing up to of thrust, installed in pairs in fireproof bays in each wing root. The design of the Valiant gave an overall impression of a plain and clean aircraft with simple aerodynamics. George Edwards described the Valiant appropriately and simply as an "unfunny"