The pairing of F8 and F4 on carriers didn’t last very long, before long the big carriers had only F4s in their CVWs. I assume that an Essex was among the mix of carriers on Yankee station so F8 squadrons were available for strikes.

A vanilla CVW as possible is a good thing in terms economy of operation, sortie generation and the like. But its not so good for photo opportunities for aeroplane geeks like me.