Victory Verticals

These special programs highlight how the magic of music helped win the War during the month-long run of the exhibit. All programs are free for Members and included with general admission.

Check the Museum's events Calendar for details!

Victory Verticals Events

Saturday, August 9 - Victory Vertical Pianos Symposium
Enjoy a World War II symposium featuring a book talk and special presentations on the roles of art and music during the war.

Saturday, August 16 - Victory Verticals LIVE!
Hear a WWII-era Steinway Victory Vertical piano played live during a day of diverse musical performances from local artists.

Saturday, August 23 - Women on the Production Line
Hear from Jordan Cook, a Victory Verticals expert, on the shifting role of women on the production line at Steinway and their importance to the war effort. 

About the Victory Verticals

After the United States entered World War II, musical instrument makers like Steinway & Sons were prohibited from making their usual products due to government restrictions of iron, copper, brass, and other raw materials. As a result, Steinway turned out wings, tails, and other parts for Waco CG-4A troop transport gliders. After inquiring with the War Department, the company received a request from the government to produce heavy-duty military pianos, and by June 1942 the first prototypes were ready. 

Between 1942-46 and 1948-53, Steinway & Sons produced 2,436 Victory Vertical pianos for the war effort. During World War II, Steinway & Sons produced 5,000 pianos overall. Less than half went directly to every theater of the war, including the South Pacific, Asia, Africa, Europe and across North America. The rest went to religious organizations, educational institutions, hotels, and other public event venues across the United States. The pianos were designed to be durable and easy to transport regardless of their intended destination. They were finished olive drab green for the U.S. Army, and blue gray for the U.S. Navy and Marines. 

The pianos were also treated to resist water, termites, and other invasive insects. Special transport crates were designed so four soldiers could easily carry the 455-pound instruments. Each piano came with a set of tuning tools, instructions, and spare parts. The kit also included sheet music for classical music, religious hymns and contemporary sing-along and boogie-woogie tunes. 

Production lasted until 1953, but despite their durability most of Victory Verticals did not survive the punishing conditions on the front. An article in a 1950 Etude magazine described the woeful condition of three pianos in the Philippines during monsoon season: 

“Although 88 noises, not all traditional ones, could be elicited from these pianos,” wrote Elizabeth Randall, “what universally characterized them were their sledgehammer touch, waterlogged tone, stuck keys, missing ivories, squeaky pedals and their scarred, chipped, olive drab exteriors. No offense to the inherent good breeding of these instruments. They had been subject to a few years of tropics and war command treatment.”

On May 6, 1943, a more loving review was offered by Private Kenneth Kranes in a letter to his mother in New York: 

“Two nights past we received welcome entertainment when a jeep pulling a small wagon came to camp. The wagon contained a light system and a Steinway pianna [sic]. Mom, you would laugh if you were to have seen it, because the Steinway is not at all like Uncle Jake’s. It is smaller and painted olive green, just like the jeep. We all got a kick out of it and sure had fun after meals when we gathered around the pianna to sing… I slept smiling and even today am humming a few of the songs we sang.”

This was a victory in the battle of wartime morale and reflects the poignant legacy of the diminutive uprights. A week after he wrote his letter to mom, Private Kranes was killed by German tank fire.

About Frank Haude

Frank Haude was born in Cologne, Germany. He first arrived in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s as part of a student exchange program and immigrated in 2005 to make it his permanent home. Frank is a military and aviation history enthusiast who is extremely passionate about World War I and II artifacts and their ability to tell interdisciplinary, multifaceted and complex stories. 

Frank first encountered Steinway & Sons Victory Vertical pianos in 2010 through an internet post depicting an olive drab Victory that had been liberated from an abandoned military base in Alaska. After a three year search, he was finally able to purchase a newly restored ebony-colored 1945 Victory piano (SN 317777), which he later nicknamed “Elisabeth”, from a piano restorer in Kansas City, MO. 

A house fire in late 2023 was the impetus behind Frank’s decision to get “Elisabeth” fully restored to her original blue gray color and WWII production line condition. For this endeavor he enlisted the help of the original makers and experts at Steinway & Sons in New York. Through multiple coincidences two more Victory pianos joined the collection and restoration project: the olive drab “Evie” (SN 327354) and the ebony “Gertrude” (SN 344812). 

As a result of Frank’s work with the Steinway & Sons restoration team, his extensive research at the La Guardia & Wagner Archives and through his engagement with many other Victory Vertical enthusiasts around the globe, the idea was born to share these three iconic musical instruments and their largely forgotten history through a special exhibit at The Museum of Flight. Frank looks forward to engaging with Members and visitors of The Museum of Flight throughout the duration of the exhibit and especially during the scheduled special events.