IN ALL the arguments about Elvington Airfield, a few misconceptions need to be corrected:

* Elvington was not an emergency airfield for the Space Shuttle. It was, I believe, an emergency field for Concorde while it was being tested over the Irish Sea, but it is hard to conceive what sort of emergency this would have been.

Had the Shuttle touched down at Elvington landing to the west, it would have shot off the other end, crossed the A19 just north of Wheldrake, left most of its undercarriage in the Ouse just downstream of Naburn and ended somewhere south of Copmanthorpe.

* Airfields destroy wildlife. In fact, wildlife proliferates on airfields. Only a few weeks ago I stood with a friend on Full Sutton Airfield watching a skylark singing happily while ignoring the three aircraft which took off in quick succession. Near the run-up point on one of the taxiways is a drainage pond. A heron has often been observed calmly sitting beside this pond. Also the grass at the side of the runways is left to grow long, providing a haven for insects. One of the most fascinating sights I have seen on an airfield is two swallows criss-crossing in front of taxiing aircraft to feed off insects the aircraft disturbed.

* Some years ago I recorded a documentary called Wildlife At Stanstead Airport. Anybody wishing to borrow this can do so. The fee is £5 to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

* In a programme on the helicopter support unit for the Metropolitan Police, it was said that aviation fuel is a lot cheaper than car fuel. Perfectly true, but at the fun end of aviation the price went up to £1.50 a litre not long ago and even now is about £1.35.

Mike Usherwood, Mendip Close, Huntington, York.