To the Editor:

An Aug. 28 news story on the space shuttle and Lieut. Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr. stated that ''the first black American aviator, according to the Encyclopedia of Black America, was Eugene Jacques Bullard (who) . . . gained fame in World War I as a member of the legendary Lafayette Escadrille. . .''

Without denigrating Bullard's air combat record in France, he was not a member of the squadron known officially as Nieuport.124 L'Escadrille Lafayette de Chasse. The N.124 Escadrille never had more than 40 American pilots, and he was not one of them.

Bullard, however, is listed on the roster of the Lafayette Flying Corps (L.F.C.), an unofficial ''paper'' organization containing the names of 180 to 200 Americans who flew with some 93 French escadrilles following the United States' entry into the war in April of 1917. The roster of the L.F.C. shows that Corp. Eugene J. Bullard of Columbus, Ga., served with the Escadrilles SPA.93 and SPA.85.

The definitive book, ''The Lafayette Flying Corps,'' by Charles Nordhoff (L.F.C.) and James Norman Hall (N.124) - who later collaborated on the ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' - contains the most accurate rosters of N.124 and the L.F.C. Another valid roster source is Herbert Molloy Mason's ''The Lafayette Escadrille.''

Many have claimed membership in the N.124 Escadrille. As Prof. Philip M. Flammer, one of a number of specialists on the N.124 Escadrille who is now visiting professor of strategy at the Air War College said in 1975, ''The Lafayette (Escadrille) pilots could make short work of anyone who falsely claimed to be some long lost comrade. Their effort to stem the tide of 'ringers,' however, failed when the latter seemed to multiply faster than Daughters of the American Revolution. As early as 1930, there were more than 4,000 'ringers,' including a dozen well- known Hollywood personalities and several high government officials.'' With the respect due the 38 valid members of N.124, it is relevant to close out the ''ringers'' and maintain the accurate record of L'Escadrille Lafayette, conceived by the original seven members in Paris on March 14, 1916, and activated on April 20, 1916. R. H. HODGES Pelham, N.Y., Aug. 29, 1983