[aerohead]

the lifting bodies evolved from a 'nose' form with a portion slashed away in a diagonal chop,which produced delta-wing-like attached vortices for generating lift.It was discovered by accident around 1958.
They came in real 'hot',with very high stall speeds,since they didn't have a lot of wing area.
The Space Shuttle was a variation on the design,and in some landing footage,you can discern the over-wing vortices as they touch down.Landings were computer-controlled and in the event of a system failure,chase plane pilots could talk the Shuttle pilots down,as is done with the U-2 and Camaro-based spotter,so visibility wasn't as big an issue.
The Concorde utilized this also,and had to incorporate the drop-nose for takeoff and landing,as the angle-of-attack required for lift would have otherwise made visibility from the cockpit impossible.