I'm probably as good as anyone at sinking ships from altitude in bombers. I'm not a suicide dweeb and only rarely get hit from someone in the 5" guns.
Some things to remember:
It takes 8,000 lbs to destroy a cv and 2,000 for any other ship, including the cruiser.
I prefer to be from 9k to 13k. 13K is an excellent altitude for either a bomber or a group of 3 heavy P-47s to sink a cv.
I steer toward the area by using the forward gunner position then using F3 view. I then zoom out using the ] key.
Whether climbing or level, you can steer the formation using rudder only from this position. I can zoom to search for the cv in this position or from the front gunner position only.
I always reduce rpm about 3-4, 000 rpm (but keep throttle full) to keep from losing my drones.
I salvo all 4 x 1,000 lb bombs in a B-26. In a B-24 or B-17, if you salvo 12 x 500 lb bombs at minimum delay, it's very hard to miss the cv. You only have to have 16 of the 36 bombs dropped to be within the blast radius to sink it.
I have the forward view (8 on keypad) mapped on my joystick and adjusted to view forward while in the bombadier (F6) position. You can also steer the plane with your joystick from this position, but it's very slow and I only do it as the last fine adjustment before dropping. The lineup is done in the front gunner + F3 view.
I do several calibrations before dropping to gauge if my speed is changing. Calibration is just measuring your ground speed. I do a final calibration after my final lineup for about 4-5 seconds just before dropping.
I drop 1.5 to 1 3/4 carrier lengths in front of the projected path of the bow of the cv when dropping from 9-13k. The higher I am, the longer the lead.
I never line up directly with the path of the cv. That is a sure fire way to miss. The ship is narrow so if you are only a little off, or the ship turns, you've wasted the run. My goal is to drop a curtain of bombs across the path of the cv, so I prefer to approach at an angle - anything other than 90 degrees will work.
I watch the path of the smaller ships if the fleet begins to turn since their movement seems to be ahead of the cv movement. Sometimes you can still nail the cv with a little anticipation.
I'm sure others have there own style, but for me, this gives me a >90% success rate.
Good luck!
