By Tim Barlass
It almost didn't take off. Pilot Nigel Love of the Australian Flying Corps in World War I, who started things aeronautical at Mascot, was complaining of defective vision and watering eyes.
The medical officer who examined him wrote in August 1918: "He has found lately he hasn't been able to land as well as he used to and on the last occasion broke his machine."
Nigel Love in his two-seater biplane.
Things must have come good because in November 1919 Love made the first flight from Mascot when he carried freelance movie photographer Billy Marshall up in an Avro 504K biplane.
Earlier that year Love had surveyed the cow pastures and leased the land from the Kensington Racing Club. Then in 1920 the controller of civil aviation, Colonel Horace Brinsmead, recommended the purchase of some of the land for use as an airport.
The rest is civil aviation history which will be marked by a centenary gala dinner in a marquee on the tarmac on Thursday night for 700 VIPs (very important passengers) with a vintage DC3 aircraft alongside.
The new uniform for Qantas Airways hostesses was on display for the first time at Sydney Airport on June 13, 1969. Credit: Noel Harold Stubbs
The cows have gone and the aircraft are noisier and more frequent. Other key dates for the plane spotter's notebook - in 1934 Qantas joined with British Imperial Airways to provide a 12-day airmail flight to London and established regular flights to and from Britain.
That was the Kangaroo Route and the air hostesses (not cabin crew then) were expected to change in the tiny bathroom on board into a fresh uniform to look their best on arrival.
Also in the '30s Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, after whom the airport is now named, came on the scene ... and then went off it again. "Smithy" with his pioneering flights in Southern Cross received a knighthood from King George V in 1932 for services to long-distance civil aviation.
He was lost in his Lockheed Altair aircraft on a record-making flight from England to Australia on November 7, 1935.
The Beatles (1964); The Queen (1970) and Concorde (1972) have all dropped in over the years. Industrial disputes stopped operations on two occasions. The 1989 Australian pilots' dispute was one of the most expensive and dramatic industrial disputes in Australia's history and prompted Prime Minister Bob Hawke to declare a national emergency.
Young fans await the arrival of The Beatles at Sydney Airport on June 18, 1964.Credit: Frank Murray
In October 2011 Qantas boss Alan Joyce grounded its entire fleet and locked out staff in response to unions' industrial action.
Today the statistics surrounding the airport are eye-watering. It handles more than 44 million passengers annually, with 47 airline partners serving more than 100 destinations.
Concorde touches down for the first time in Sydney in June 1972.Credit: Alan Purcell
It employs more than 33,000 people across the precinct and Sydney Airport generates nearly
seven per cent of economic activity in NSW.
Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said the progress in aviation over the past 100 years was incredible. "Air travel is now easier and more accessible than ever."
Qantas Terminal, Mascot.Credit: Robert Pearce
"With such a bright future for the industry, the next 100 are likely to be even more extraordinary.”
Sydney Airport also recently marked an historical milestone, welcoming the arrival of its
one billionth passenger, 10 year-old Katinka from the Blue Mountains.
“It’s amazing to think that at the current rate of passenger growth we will reach the two
billion passenger milestone within the next 20 years,” Mr Culbert said.
Maybe best check in early that day ...