Maybe this isn't pertinent to the events within the story itself, but Tolkien's own feelings on airborne warfare are certainly interesting when considering what he writes of it in his books. He was not comfortable at all with it, and I believe he was actually unhappy with his sons' choice to enter the RAF during WWII.
There's quite a bit of interesting material on this in various essays and in the letters - I would find some right now but it's a bit late
I did rummage out this from the letters though (it was a quote already online
):
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Tolkien
...it is the aeroplane of war that is the real villain. And nothing can really amend my grief that you [Christopher], my best beloved, have any connexion with it. My sentiments are more or less those that Frodo would have had if he discovered some Hobbits learning to ride Nazgûl-birds, 'for the liberation of the Shire'.
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I agree with you, there wasn't much strategic use made of the winged beasts, but Tolkien's own feelings, I suspect, had a lot to do with this.