What does "P" on U.S. fighter aircraft stands for?

Question

As I understand "P" stands for pursuit, and why does there is a change to "F" as a prefix on U.S. fighter aircraft after world war 2?

Answer 1

They changed the designation from pursuit to fighter.

Answer 2

the p stands for pathetic...

Answer 3

The U.S. Army Air Core (back before the US Air Force became its own branch) called their small fast fighter wings, pursuit squadrons and you would pursue the enemy.  I think it was just a matter of semantics and a difference in the culture then.

As for the Tactical Air Command and Air Combat Command, the reason the ACC was created was because there used to be TAC and SAC (strategic air command).  SAC was decommissioned as a separate entity and basically was combined with TAC.  The ACC primarily had a focus on conventional warfare with the nuclear arsenal falling under the control of the Department of Energy and a more combined military command (the three main branches, Army, Navy (which includes marines), and Air Force.

Answer 4

Same reason they went from TAC (Tactical Air Command) to ACC (Air Combat Command) in the late 80's because they could.

Answer 5

Pursuit