I traveled on one of the last DC-10 flights operated by Northwest from Memphis nonstop to Amsterdam. It was an old bird showing its age but it got us across the pond just fine following a very gentle take off from MEM. It was almost as if the Captain did not want to stress the old girl. He very gradually applied power and we slowly picked up speed before getting airborne.
So.....was this aircraft a DC-10-30 or DC-10-40? Well, to be honest, I failed to inquire about this after thinking about it in the NW lounge. And I now wish I had!