Sydney Airport Celebrates 100 years

Nigel Borland Love was born at Kurrajong NSW on 16 January 1892. After attending Sydney High School, he managed his father’s Sydney company, John Love and Sons, Merchants and Importers. Following the outbreak of World War I, he initially joining the First AIF in 1915, later successfully obtaining selection for flying training with the NSW Government Flying School at Ham Common, later site of RAAF Richmond. A posting followed to the fledgling Australian Flying Corps (AFC), then additional training in England, leading to gaining of Royal Flying Corps wings in April 1917. After service with No 3 Squadron AFC in France he returned to England serving with both the RAF Ferry Pool and the AFC as an instructor.

Following the Armistice, Love recognised the potential for expansion of aviation in Australia, negotiating with A V Roe and Co (Avro) for sole Australian agency, selling and/or manufacturing their aircraft. His partners in the venture were Harry Broadsmith, chief engineer at Avro’s Manchester factory and Walter Warneford, formerly No 3 Squadron’s equipment officer. The agreement included supply of 20 Avro 504Ks which would require assembly and four fully assembled aircraft as demonstrators.

The three partners returned to Australia on separate ships with Love arriving in Sydney during September 1919. His immediate task was to establish an aerodrome close to Sydney. After driving around extensively looking for likely sites he visited Raine and Horne Real Estate Agents, Pitt Street, Sydney explaining his requirements.

In his privately-published autobiography in 1968, Love expressed his first impression of the site which would become Sydney Airport, “We arranged an inspection and lo and behold here it was a ready made aerodrome and the real answer to the maidens prayer. The surface was perfectly flat, so much so that it appeared to me to be reclaimed land by the process of pumping from the adjoining Cooks River at some earlier period. It was covered with a pasture of buffalo grass which had been grazed so evenly by the sheep and cattle running on it, that it simply left nothing to be desired and above all, as far as I was concerned, needed no money spending on it to make it serviceable to land aircraft. In addition to the area being perfectly flat its approaches on the four sides had virtually no obstructions. On the South side was the green grass banks of the Cooks River, thence Botany Bay itself. On the Western side was the Cooks River beyond which lay the Bonny Doon Golf Links. On the Eastern border was the Ascot race course and the Northern area was bounded by Chinamens’ Gardens which I think extended to about Rickety Street at that time. So what better do you require than that!”

Love and his partners established an aerodrome at Mascot after negotiations finalised a lease of the land owned by the Kensington Racing Club (KRC). The terms were for their sole and private benefit for three years from early 1920 until 1923, the same duration of the A V Roe Agency.

In October 1919 the partners formed the Australian Aircraft and Engineering Co Ltd (AA&ECo) with Love Managing Director and Chief Pilot, Broadsmith engineer in charge of production and Warneford managing procurement and other matters.

The Avro shipment arrived the following month, initially stored in Crystal Street, Petersham in a former roller skating rink. Large crates containing the Avro 504Ks were then transported by horse-drawn jinker to the Mascot site. To perform assembly and maintenance, a building was obtained in Botany Road, Mascot. From there, assembled aircraft were pushed down the road onto the nearby aerodrome which initially had a small canvas covered structure, later replaced by a canvas Richards hangar shipped from England.

The historic first flight from Mascot aerodrome took place on 19 November 1919 when Nigel Love took off in an Avro 504K carrying freelance photographer Billy Marshall. Following assembly of the first demonstration Avro 504K the official first flight took place on 9 January 1920. Valuable income followed with 15 minute joy-flights available for £4/4/-, later reduced, with 7,000 passengers getting their first flying experience.

To further cement Mascot’s place in history, AA&ECo sent a telegram in December 1919 to Ross and Keith Smith explaining, “Should you decide to honour Sydney with a visit on your way south this company wishes to extend an invitation to land at its aerodrome at Mascot, position extreme northern corner Botany Bay landing ground marked with a white circle”. Love flew an Avro 504K to meet the Smiths east of the Blue Mountains on 14 February 1920, followed by a Mascot landing.

As part of enthusiastic coverage of this event, the Sydney Morning Herald reported thousands of people watched from tops of tall buildings witnessing the Vickers Vimy’s flight over Sydney on its way to the Mascot landing. In part exclaiming, “The sight swept the thousands into sudden excitement, as if they had been touched by an electric current. …This aeroplane had flown from England!…The simple realisation of such a feat roused the imagination…”.

They were exciting times for Love and his partners, but events were looming with unforeseen consequences.

‘lo and behold here it was a ready made aerodrome’
NIGEL LOVE