"No US-produced civilian airline aircraft (after the B-707 'dash-80') has received direct US government money for research, development, marketing etc."
"Of course Douglas did benefit from technology transfer, research and manufacturing techniques from the rather large grey military freighter plant over the road!"
Now that's a crock. The DC-9() and DC-10() production facilities were old by the time the C-17 started. And for the most part, they weren't upgraded after that. The technology transfer was the other way around. Lots of commercial engineering people transferred to the C-17, as the other programs spooled down.
Since its beginning in about 1983, the most reliable plane in the USAF fleet has been the KC-10A tanker. It was a DC10-30 with tanks in the belly and a boom. That's another case of American commercial technology transfer to the govt.
GB