Ravenchase

 

When I first heard about this, I thought it was a hoax. I did a bit of searching, and it’s true. During World War II, Steinway & Sons air-dropped pianos near the front line with huge parachutes and instructions on how to tune them. (Rolling an upright four feet across the room detunes it; a drop from 14,000 feet is bound to be much worse.) The project was called Victory Vertical or G.I. Steinway, and the pianos were meant to provide a bit of relaxation for the American troops and a boost to their morale. The pianos were painted olive, blue, and gray. By the end of the war, Steinway & Sons had provided about 5,000 pianos to the U.S. military around the world. The Steinway family had four sons in the service at the time. I’m thinking if they really wanted to help with the war effort, they might have dropped pianos on the enemy line. No parachutes necessary.