Dr. Rob Gates, president of the Dahlgren Heritage Foundation, will be the guest speaker at next week’s luncheon meeting of the Northern Neck-Middle Peninsula Chapter of the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society. The program will be held next Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Pilot House Restaurant, which is located beside Hummel Field Airport in Topping on Route 3. The program begins with a meet-and-greet at 11:30 a.m., followed by the buffet lunch at noon and the program at 12:30 p.m. Gates will talk about the building of the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River between Dahlgren in King George County and Charles County, Maryland, in 1940. This bridge finally allowed easy access for traffic from Maryland and above to the uppermost part of the Northern Neck and to Dahlgren Naval Weapons Base which nurtured technological advances in naval warfare and aviation. The base is now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). Gates has spoken to the c...