Salute!
Good points, Chug.
I only saw good results of tactical bombing with the B-52's twice - the Khe San defense in 1967-68 and then the An Loc batle in 1972. In both battles they dropped very close to the friendlies, mainly trying and succeeding to keep the enema from gathering strength and "charging".
The An Loc bombing was much more effective than the Khe San effort. By 1972 we had very accurate targeting data from the grunts at the camp, and the Buffs had refined their dropping accuracy. The drops over Hanoi in 1972 resembled WW2. Not massive "carpet bombing" but specific targets, and when we could not go visually, we used LORAN pathfinders for the sky puke. I dropped once visually, and twice on the wing of a F-4 LORAN bird. I had boots on the ground BDA from a friend that was released a few months later, and he told me we pulverized the railyard that day.
I still think a good Mossie pathfinder or two and some flare markers would have allowed the Lancs and Libs and Forts to pulverize the beach head at 0000 hours and then have the airborne folks drop a few miles inland an hour later. At 3,000 feet or so it's hard to miss.
Other great point by Chug: the elephant in the room....... The U.S. did not have air superiority contested after Pearl Harbor, and that objective was incorporated into USAF doctrine. I have heard of a few LW planes sticking their noses into the fray, but nothing to write home about.
Gums sends...