Fashions for the Power Seekers

Fashions for real femmes fatales were right on target at Miami’s Bing Bang Boom gun show. One model wore a hair bow that contains a holster. Others displayed gun-concealing purses and bras, to the applause of about 75 firearms fans. A shoulder holster to be worn under a jacket was described as “the perfect accessory for the businesswomen of the ‘80s.” “This could only happen in Miami,” said Ron Campos, who tested some of the weapons. “Where else would you find a fashion show on how to wear a concealed weapon?” Promoter Ted Walker said: “What we’re trying to do is show the contemporary woman that she can carry a concealed weapon and still look good.” Model Cindy McCall said she was sold on handbags with secret compartments for a pistol. And some of the gun dealers at the show offered “Sweetheart Specials,” such as a .22-caliber handgun that could fit easily in a purse.

--The three known surviving American aces from World War I, now in their 90s, had a reunion at a seminar at the University of Texas, Dallas. George Vaughn Jr., who had 13 confirmed “kills” of enemy aircraft with Britain’s Royal Flying Corps and the U.S. Army Air Corps, said air combat has come a long way from the days when pilots worried about shooting out their own propellers. “It’s amazing to me that you can shoot down a plane without even seeing it,” he said. In his combat days, pilots might come within 15 yards of the enemy craft. He and the other two World War I pilots, Douglas Campbell and A. Raymond Brooks, became aces by downing at least five enemy planes each, with confirmation from witnesses or the discovery of wreckage.

--Life was anything but a dream for four crewmen who rowed a 28-foot boat from South America to Antarctica. Three of the four were tossed into the sea during the 12-day, 600-mile trip across the rough Drake Passage between Tierra del Fuego and icy Antarctica. They were saved because they were tethered to the vessel. “Until we made it, we weren’t really sure it could be done,” said Ned Gillette, who organized the adventure that ended March 7. “I didn’t think we’d expire on the trip but I didn’t know where we’d end up.” The high-tech, $17,000 Sea Tomato, tracked by satellite and fed weather data from a station in Massachusetts, left under sail with financing by corporate sponsors. The crew began rowing three days out. Crew members said they bailed flooded cabins and rowed sometimes through 100-foot swells. “Why did we do it?” said Jay Morrison. “Because nobody had ever done it before. That’s a pretty good reason.”