Berlin airlift

1. A military operation in the late 1940s that brought food and other needed goods into West Berlin by air after the government of East Germany, which at that time surrounded West Berlin (see Berlin wall) (see also Berlin wall), had cut off its supply routes. The United States joined with western European nations in flying the supplies in. The airlift was one of the early events of the cold war.

Example Sentences

“We need to see a sense of urgency,” he said, “something like the Berlin airlift.”

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It is, in many ways, a more complex effort than the Berlin airlift three-quarters of a century ago.

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In a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Berlin airlift, he co-piloted a plane that made more sweets rain down over the by-then unified city.

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“Russia is disturbing European gas markets, with the U.S. talking about exporting basically the next ‘Berlin airlift’ for natural gas to Europe,’’ he said.

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The Berlin airlift officially ended 72 years ago today.

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