Best 4 hours I have ever taken off work

It is kind of sad that I haven't posted anything about this yet. It was one of the most amazing days of my short aviation life.  2 weeks ago on a Wednesday, a very affluent friend of mine offered me a chance no one in their flying mind would every turn down.  The conversation went something like this:
"Ben, this is Adam.  What are you up to one Friday?"
"Just work, why is that?"
"Well, if you are available on Friday afternoon or evening, I would like to invite you to see my WWII airplane collection and hang out with some WWII Vets."
"That sounds fantastic, I would love to join"
....
The conversation continued for a little bit about the details.  Also, his name isn't Adam, but I've decided to protect this guy.  He lives a pretty private life.

So, Friday comes along, I worked in the morning and left to pick up one of the Vets.  He was actually in the Korean War, but had some fantastic stories.  We met Adam at the Eagle Creek Airport (KEYE) and flew down in a Baron to Bloomington (KBMG) to see the airplanes. When we landed, we taxied over to the hanger and on the ramp sat a Twin Beech.  This Twin Beech (Beech 18) was the SNB-1 model.  This airplane is one of two flying in the world.  that's right, one of TWO in the WORLD.  There are other models of the Twin Beech, but of this one, the first navy variant, it is one of only two.  I think it was important to say that 3 times.  Well, not only is this airplane still able to fly, it was also able to take up some guests.  Guess who got to sit in the co-pilot seat?  This guy!  It was fantastic.  The controls are not fully duplicated, so my side didn't have rudders, but I did have the yoke.  The reason it wasn't fully duplicated was because of the nose gunner seat.  I also got to sit in this seat when we were flying over Bloomington.  That was pretty fantastic.  Ok, so maybe that was an understatement.

When we arrived back at the airport, we got a tour of the other airplanes.  Because I don't have enough time to tell the story about all of these, I'm just going to list them.
- Beech Staggerwing
- Boeing PT17
- Alexander Eaglerock A-1
- Beech 18 SNB-5
- Beech E18S - (Super 18)

There is one other plane.  I didn't want to put it in that list because it doesn't deserve to be listed.  It is far too superior.  Most people have probably never heard of that plane, but ask a soldier that was in the Pacific Ocean for WWII, and there will be fond memories.  This plane is a PBY-5A.  This is a flying boat manufactured by Consolidated Aircraft from the 40s through the 50s.  These flying boats, sometimes known as the Black Cats, were used in late night bombing raids on Japanese convoys traveling in the Pacific.  They are amazing aircraft, and we did get to walk around inside it and sit in the cockpit.  Quite a fantastic opportunity.

I don't know why it took me so long to tell that story, but it was a great time.  In 2 days I'm going to be having my first seaplane lesson.  I'm pretty excited for that as well!  I'll post about the flight afterward.