Key Takeaways
- Award-winning director and cinematographer Steve Colby is documenting the ongoing effort to recover World War II aircraft buried beneath Greenland’s ice.
- The Lost Squadron refers to six P-38 fighters and two B-17 bombers that made emergency landings in Greenland on July 15, 1942.
- The 1992 recovery of the P-38 fighter known as Glacier Girl demonstrated the extraordinary challenges and possibilities of Arctic aircraft recovery.
- Modern technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-penetrating radar, have helped explorers locate aircraft buried deep beneath shifting ice.
- Produced by Pogo Pictures, the documentary explores the historical significance, technical challenges, and personal determination behind the decades-long recovery mission.
Steve Colby is an award-winning director and cinematographer who founded Pogo Pictures in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999 and has since built it into one of the most recognized commercial production companies in the southeastern United States. Over more than two decades, Steve Colby has filmed projects in 46 states and dozens of countries for Fortune 100 companies, tourism boards, and entertainment campaigns, including a Doritos commercial voted the favorite Super Bowl ad of 2013.
Beyond his production work, Colby serves as a board member and president of The Bridge to Recovery, a nonprofit supporting people recovering from childhood trauma, and previously served on the board of CARE. His personal interests include photography and raising goats, one of which starred alongside him in his award-winning Doritos spot.
Colby’s latest project, a documentary following the decades-long effort to recover a squadron of World War II aircraft lost beneath Greenland’s ice, is now in production at Pogo Pictures.
Military aircraft, also known as warbirds, often serve as distinctive windows into world history; tracing a plane’s history from modern times back to its first flight invariably reveals an awe-inspiring and moving story. The Lost Squadron ranks among the most famous stories out of all warbird recovery efforts
While warbirds frequently carry impressive military records into the present day, the discovery or recovery of these planes is frequently just as unique, if not more so. Military craft in collections or on display at museums come from a diverse array of locations, from the deep jungles of Papua New Guinea to the bottom of Russian lakes. The men and women who find and retrieve these planes show a similar initiative and resourcefulness to the people who flew them.
On July 15, 1942, challenging weather and visibility conditions forced a squad consisting of six P-38 fighters and a pair of B-17 bombers to abandon their mission in the British Isles and return to Greenland. The planes had planned on joining Operation Bolero, a gathering of United States forces in Great Britain.
However, the trying conditions demanded an emergency landing on an exposed ice sheet. While rescue teams managed to recover all of the crew members, local authorities lacked the resources to recover the planes. The years went by, and the squadron gradually disappeared under hundreds of feet of ice and snow, ultimately settling between 260 and 350 feet beneath the surface.
Exactly 50 years later, the Greenland Expedition Society made a remarkable discovery when they found and retrieved one of the fighters, a warbird now known to the world as Glacier Girl. Inspired by the initial discovery, Kentucky Entrepreneur Roy Shoffner funded the Greenland Expedition Society throughout the project, now regarded as one of the greatest feats in warbird history.
Nearly 35 years after the recovery of Glacier Girl, a new chapter is unfolding in the exceptional story of the Lost Squadron. A new team of explorers, equipped with the latest technology, has returned to the Arctic ice, determined to find and recover Glacier Girl’s seven companions.
The latest edition to the story began in 2014, when California aircraft preservationist Jim Salazar met with Ken McBride, an aviation aficionado who had made several trips to Greenland in hopes of finding one of the remaining P-38s. Together, they spent several years navigating logistical challenges, financial obstacles, and environmental hurdles.
In 2018, the team made a stunning discovery through the novel combination of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology. The technology showed Salazar and McBride that shifts in the ice had made the fighter, dubbed Echo, relatively accessible to rescuers, despite a depth of about 350 feet.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into the mission. Despite Echo’s favorable positioning, the team must contend with fuel shortages and other challenges posed by the remoteness of Southeast Greenland.
The Lost Squadron is the subject of a documentary film in production at Pogo Pictures under director Steve Colby. The Expedition recounts the extensive recovery efforts to retrieve the aircraft from under the Greenland ice, following the team of determined explorers who face brutal conditions, equipment failures, financial setbacks, and intense isolation. The explorers dedicated years of their lives to what many deemed an impossible task, resulting in a compelling story that blends historical mystery, survival story, and modern-day exploration epic.
The Exploration entered production at Pogo Pictures in 2026.
FAQs
Who is Steve Colby?
Steve Colby is an award-winning director and cinematographer who founded Pogo Pictures in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999. His work spans commercial production, tourism campaigns, and documentary filmmaking, including a project exploring the search for the Lost Squadron.
What is the Lost Squadron?
The Lost Squadron consists of six P-38 fighter aircraft and two B-17 bombers that made emergency landings on Greenland’s ice in July 1942 while attempting to reach Great Britain. Although all crew members were rescued, the aircraft were abandoned and gradually buried beneath accumulated ice and snow.
What is Glacier Girl, and why is it significant?
Glacier Girl is a P-38 fighter recovered from beneath Greenland’s ice in 1992, 50 years after the emergency landing. Its recovery became a landmark achievement in aircraft preservation and inspired further efforts to locate the other seven aircraft from the Lost Squadron.
How are explorers searching for the remaining Lost Squadron aircraft?
Explorers have used technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-penetrating radar to identify aircraft locations beneath the ice. Despite these advances, extreme weather, remote terrain, logistical difficulties, equipment limitations, and funding challenges continue to complicate recovery efforts.
What is Steve Colby’s Lost Squadron documentary about?
The documentary, in production at Pogo Pictures in 2026, follows the team working to locate and recover the remaining aircraft beneath Greenland’s ice. It combines World War II history with modern exploration, highlighting the technical obstacles, financial setbacks, and perseverance required to pursue the mission.
About Steve Colby
Steve Colby is an award-winning director and cinematographer based in Atlanta, Georgia, who founded Pogo Pictures in 1999 and has led the company for more than 25 years. He has filmed commercial and tourism campaigns in 46 states and dozens of countries for clients including Fortune 100 companies. Colby serves as board member and president of The Bridge to Recovery, supporting people recovering from childhood trauma, and previously served on the board of CARE. Outside of his production work, he enjoys photography and raising goats.