The land used for the airport had been a bullock paddock, with a lot of the area around Mascot being swampy. Flights had been taking off from at least 1911 from these fields, with aviators using other Sydney locations like Anderson Park and Neutral Bay for a few years prior. Nigel Love established the airfield at Mascot as a private concern, leasing 80 hectares (200 acres) from the Kensington Race Club for three years. It initially had a small canvas structure but was later equipped with an imported Richards hangar. The first flight from Mascot was in November 1919 when Love carried freelance movie photographer Billy Marshall up in an Avro. Sydney Airport was declared an aerodrome and officially opened in January 1920. The official opening flight took place on 9 January 1920, also performed by Love. In 1921, the Commonwealth Government purchased 65 hectares (161 acres) in Mascot for the purpose of creating a public airfield. In 1923, when Love's three-year lease expired, the Mascot land was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth Government from the racing club. The first regular flights began in 1924. In 1933, the first gravel runways were built. On 14 August 1936, the airport was renamed Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport in honour of pioneering Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. In 1940, the Department of Civil Aviation constructed an administrative and terminal building in the eastern part of the aerodrome, with a control tower cab at the top floor. The building is now part of Terminal 3 since 1999, but the control tower cab has already been removed. By 1949, the airport had three runways – the 1,085-metre (3,560 ft) 11/29, the 1,190-metre (3,904 ft) 16/34, and the 1,787-metre (5,863 ft) 04/22. The Sydenham to Botany railway line crossed runway 04/22 approximately 150 metres (490 ft) from the northern end and was protected by special safe working facilities. In the late 1940s (c. 1947–1949), a temporary overseas passenger (i.e. international) terminal was constructed. The original 1940 terminal then became the terminal building for the Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), the government-owned domestic airline, and the building also became known as the TAA terminal building. The temporary overseas passenger terminal was later replaced by a newer one in 1954, located just north of the 1940 terminal building. During the year 1950, the airport handled at least 793,956 passengers and was ranked among the busiest airports in the world. Between 1947 and 1953, the Cooks River was diverted away around the western side of the airport and other small streams were filled. This allowed the construction of two new paved runways to replace the three gravel runways. The first paved runway to be constructed was 07/25, completed in 1953–1954. Subsequently, the next paved runway to be constructed was 16/34 (now 16R/34L) which replaced the parallel gravel runway 16/34. Both runways were constructed south of the gravel runways. At the same time, on 2 November 1953, a new air traffic control tower with an integrated fire station was constructed northeast of where the two runways intersect, replacing the control tower on the 1940 terminal building. The tower was demolished in 2005. The new runway 16R/34L was later extended southwards into Botany Bay over General Holmes Drive in 1968 to accommodate long-haul international jets, and then extended again to its current length in 1972. Sydney Airport's main runway is one of the longest commercial runways in the world at just under 4km. It was extended to this length in the late 1970s so it could double as a designated emergency landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle until 1986. Since then, the east–west 07/25 runway was 2,500 m (8,300 ft) long; and the north–south 16/34 runway was one of the longest runways in the Southern Hemisphere. Up to the early 1960s, the majority of Sydneysiders referred to the airport as Mascot.