Slick Airways

Slick Airways was a pioneering United States freight airline founded after World War II by Earl F. Slick, a 26-year-old oil heir and former military pilot. Its substantial capitalization and size set it apart from many hundreds of similar airlines founded in the same era. In the immediate post World War II era, Slick carried more domestic air freight than any other airline, even its contemporary, the famous Flying Tiger Line (FTL). Slick Airways was initially an irregular air carrier (without formal government certification) before becoming one of the first scheduled US cargo airlines, certificated as a domestic "all-cargo carrier" in 1949 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly controlled most US commercial air transport. FTL received its certificate in the same proceeding.

However, domestic scheduled air cargo was unprofitable for pure cargo airlines during this period. Such carriers survived by making up the deficit in other businesses, but Slick was relatively undiversified and ultimately unable to endure. In 1953–1954, Slick suffered a disruptive failed merger with FTL. Slick obtained CAB permission to suspend scheduled service in 1958 after which it mostly flew for the military. After resuming scheduled service in 1962, Slick ceased again in 1965. In 1966 Slick merged its remaining military charter business with fellow scheduled cargo operator Airlift International. In 1968 Slick's dormant domestic scheduled authority also transferred to Airlift. The Slick Corporation survived for a time as a company active outside the airline industry.