It was an intentional change to pump up the Carrier Air Wing's CO billet to 0-6. The change was phased in over a number of years that put the Carrier's CO and the CAG on equal footing as partners who both were direct reports to the Strike Group Commander.

In large part it was an acknowledgement of the power and importance of the embarked air wing as a separate and distinct asset from the ship itself. It also brought the organizational billet in line with the USAF, as they assigned at least a Colonel to lead Wings and a CVW is in reality a composite wing in USAF parlance.

It also came at a time when air wings were reaching what would become their max size in the post WW2 era. The air wings size had shrunk following WW2 by nearly 50% in some cases. The Essex and Midway class hulls could fit a lot, but jets continued to increase in size and wait, meaning by the mid 60's carriers might only have 50-70 at most aircraft embarked, and even then either a small number of large patrol aircraft or larger numbers of light daytime attacker or fighters in many cases. Doubly so when we consider many of the Essex hulls were re-designated as anti submarine carriers. However the newer super carrier hulls of the Forrestal, Kitty Hawk/JFK, and most of all the CVN's of the Enterprise and Nimitz classes changed the game. Once again carriers could embark huge mixed air groups of 90 or so jets. A super carrier air group of the mid 80's might have 2 F-14 squadrons, 2 A-7 Corsair II squadrons, an A-6 Intruder squadron, an EA-6B Prowler squadron, an S-3 Viking patrol squadron, and a helicopter squadron, along with E-2b Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound detachments. While some squadrons on the smaller carriers in particular were also deploying with the first operational F/A-18 Hornet units.

Even with the status of air wings again today having shrunk back to almost unprecedentedly small sizes, it easy to see why in the late Cold War how a billet in command of multiple squadrons and dozens of aircraft rated more than an O-5. Doubly so with Regan's famous 600 Ship Fleet drive under Secretary Lehman in the background.