i would have to agree mic. It think its a amazing feat of engineering that that thing gets of the ground. The fact that bristol engineers built and designed the wings and another bristol company made the trent engines adds to my admiration for it. Nice shot of it as well Mic.
But this country used to make ground breaking designs pretty much all by itself. We didn't need to build parts for foreign aircraft, we built designs that were the envy of the world ourselves. Not long ago we were a major cog in building the first Supersonic airliner, oft recognised as one of the most graceful and superb aircraft ever, or how about the first (and as yet only) successful, operational VTOL military jet, indeed both beating the 'greatest' country in the world (bare in mind the Canberra, Harrier and Hawk have all been taken and modified by them) that's something to be proud of being British for in my opinion (something that seem to make you a racist in this PC land).
Can you honestly say the A380 means the same? Yes, our engineers are brilliant, but I can't see why our building parts for a French design can be considered something for a nation to be proud of when our aviation industry was once arguably the best in the world.
Still, we all have a right to our opinion.
