A wheel unit from one of the older, smaller Airbus brothers of the A380 which has just been unveiled in Toulouse is on display in the foyer of the Science Museum. It is very large and very good to look at. Some of the struts have a bone-like elegance. The layout of hydraulic hoses is shipshape. The quality of the metalwork and the paintwork is very fine. But you don't just admire the look of the thing; you start asking questions. Why (as the warning label insists) must the massive tyres be filled with nitrogen? Is that disc on the inside of the wheel a brake? And so on. You look, and then find reasons to look longer. The cavernous gallery which deals with the history of aircraft and their engines is high above this exhibit, right at the top of the museum. You ask questions there too.

LRB 3 February 2005 | PDF Download