The future of the Elvington Airfield will involve either aviation or motorsports, it emerged today.

An aerial view of Elvington airfield, which is to be sold by the MoD

As aviation enthusiasts anxiously await a decision on the fate of the airfield, near York, it was revealed that any developers who considered turning it into something else, such as housing, have been rejected.

What will happen to the site, and the annual air spectacular, is now hanging in the balance as its owner, the Ministry of Defence, considers bids for its purchase.

The MoD has now reduced the number of bidders on its shortlist to eight, and a decision on who to sell the Second World War airfield to is expected by the end of March.

The sale has raised fears over what will happen to the annual air show in August, which last year attracted 25,000 visitors - the biggest ever.

The agent handling the sale on behalf of the MoD, Henry Butcher and Co, said today that all the eight final bidders want to keep the airfield's role similar to its current one, which includes hosting various shows and speed record attempts.

Richard Corby, of Henry Butcher, said there were originally nearly 400 enquiries into the site, with 60 firm expressions of interest.

He said: "We had some enquiries from highly 'top secret' people like wealthy overseas principals and Americans, asking all sorts of questions like whether there were houses nearby, without wanting to give anything away. I wondered what on earth they planned to do with it."

The neighbouring Yorkshire Air Museum is part of a consortium that has made it to the final eight bidders hoping to secure the site.

Dave Tappin, organiser of the annual air show, said: "I hope we hear soon because we've got to start booking things for the show soon, like portable lavatories. We want to start organising it but we don't yet know who will own the airfield and, if it's not us, how much they'll charge us to use it and what restrictions there will be."

Click here to view the Yorkshire Air Museum website

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.