Nick, air reconnaissance was an integral part of WW II intelligence gathering, but it was only a piece of the puzzle.
I'm only saying (badly, perhaps) that you need to find targets before you can decide what to hit. I'm cheating a bit by including orbital systems in "aerial".
I agree that by 1945 the USAAF and RAF had essentially accomplished their strategic tasks and further bombing was pretty much gratuitous.
Not just the strategic forces but all those fighter pilots shooting at anyone and anything that moved in the last days.
The fact that I wanted to include ground forces in the discussion is supported by your comment. We will have to bite the bullet and bring in some ground forces supported by a lot of forward and aerial targeting forces.
Indigenous ground forces are already there although they need to make common cause (and, in some cases, find a willingness to fight).
I'd put strangling the supply of oil, fuel, and weapons inflow much higher on your list of uses for air power.
Doesn't matter if you can overrun territory swiftly. If you can't, then I agree.