So I recently had this stuck in my brain for a bit. So during D-Day we had a bunch of people die just trying to take the beach but why did we not send in a group of bombers or atleast some planes to do a quick airstrike or just use the cannons on the ships to take out the bunkers?
So during D-Day we had a bunch of people die just trying to take the beach
Omaha Beach was not the only beach assaulted on 6 June, and while Saving Private Ryan is indeed very good at portraying what happened at Omaha, the other four beaches were not like it. I can send you more previous posts on that matter if you'd like to know more.
why did we not send in a group of bombers or atleast some planes to do a quick airstrike or just use the cannons on the ships to take out the bunkers?
You Americans and the British in fact did so. For various reasons, it wasn't as effective as you hope. u/davratta and u/Badgerfest discuss why it didn't quite work.
For completeness, we can also look to the naval side of things, ably covered by u/thefourthmaninaboat: