try as i might i cant find a way into the air temple. Have i missed out on something obvious? I tried knock and dispel magic on the magically held door but nothing happened. Is there another way in?
You should not be able to get through any of the magically-held doors in the temple. If by some quirk of the game engine you do manage to get through one (I have gotten through one or two) there is nothing to see there anyways. I don't believe there is anything associated with the Air Temple behind any of those doors.
The Air Temple is the big room with air elementals in it, at the bottom of the circular stairwell. The doors out of there, into the rest of level 2, shouldn't be that hard to pick
The Huge Bronze doors are something else entirely. They are meant to keep something IN... The Air Temple is every white looking chamber surrounding the place where you encounter the priest named Kelno.
There is nothing that can be done to those magically held doors, simply ignore them. My advice to you would be to have a character with a high 'Search' ability (usually a Rogue)and use his/her the search ability (open the radial menu to access it) to detect hidden doors, or have one of your mages cast the 'Detect Secret Door' spell, or if you really wanted to travel beyond those doors, cast the spell Clairvoyance to make the area visible, and then cast the spell 'Dimension Door' to wrap into the desired place.