Who is considered a precursor of the Space Shuttle's lifting body?

Since the early days of aviation, designers dreamed of harnessing the cargo space of the fuselage to generate the lift needed to keep the aircraft in the air. Vincent Burnelli, an American designer, devoted his entire career to exploiting the advantages of the lifting-fuselage concept that characterized many of his designs.

In 1920 Burnelli teamed up with T. T. Remington to create his first lifting-fuselage design. This was the RB-1, a twin-engine biplane that incorporated many of the distinctive features that would be associated with Burnelli-designed transports for the next five decades. In 1924 came the RB-2, an air-cargo version of the RB-1. In 1929 he designed and built the GX-3, a three-seat, open-cockpit twin-engine monoplane, as an entrant in the $150,000 Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition. In 1935 a new passenger aircraft prototype appeared, the UB-14.

The "lifting body" feature that keeps the US Space Shuttle flying after reentry has been described as a direct application of Burnelli's lifting-fuselage design. Of all the aircraft he designed, only one survives.