The over large tailplane of the DC10 was a cheaper alternative than an active de-icing system and the MD-11 contains hall marks of fighter thinking in its wing position, the redesign of the tailplane and many of the handling features.
I doubt you have every worked in an a/c design office, because nobody positions a wing on anything other than 'where it should be' and there's only one place which is 'where it should be'
