Colonel William Paul Fife USAF (Ret) (November 23, 1917 – October 13, 2008) was a United States Air Force officer that first proved the feasibility for U.S. Air Force Security Service airborne Communications Intelligence (COMINT) collection and Fife is considered the "Father of Airborne Intercept".

[1][2] Fife was also a hyperbaric medicine specialist who was known for his pioneering research on pressurized environments ranging from high altitude to underwater habitats.

[2][3] Fife reported to the U.S. Army FE Headquarters Office of Intelligence in January 1944 then to the 68th Airborne Air Control Squadrons (AACS) combat operations in SW Pacific in September.

[2] Hoping for a chance to ride in the planes more often, Fife transferred to the Air Force in November 1947 where he was immediately sent to the Defense Language Institute to learn Russian.

[1] Fife was sent to 1st Radio Squadron Mobile, Johnson Air Base, Japan during the Allied Occupation where he earned the unofficial title, "Father of USAFSS Command in the Far East".

[1][6] Fife was then sent to North Korea where he served as USAFSS 1st RSM's liaison officer to Fifth Air Force Headquarters located in Kim Il Sung's palace and stayed until the then Capt.

[2] In 1951, Fife set up USAFSS linguist team operations in Pyeongtaek with the 606th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron.

Lieutenant Colonel Fife, with his wife Ann, served as Assistant Air Attaché at the U.S. Embassy with military intelligence as a Russian expert.

[3] Colonel Fife translated for President Dwight D. Eisenhower a radio transmission from a Soviet fighter pilot intercepted after shooting down a USAF C-130 ACRP (60528) over Armenia in September 1958.

[1] Fife was active with the HydroLab saturation diving research program funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

[14] The French engineering company COMEX (Compagnie maritime d'expertises) later applied Fife's work in developing their HYDRA dive series.

[3] These projects included the treatment of: HyperTrak clinical documentation software, marketed by Intellicure, Inc., was started at Texas A&M University with Dr. Fife and David Walker in 1996.

On his 78th birthday in 1995, Fife and a team from Diving Diseases Research Centre received "The Duke of Edinburgh's Prize of the British Sub-Aqua Club" which was presented by H.R.H.