"Gray Ghost" wrote
In the early '80's my companies shipped Trident I & II, Peacekeeper, Pershing II, Stinger, and Standard Missile-ER rocket motors or complete stages via commercial carrier, although the tractors were sometimes armored. The missiles would be "knocked down", into the field or depot assemble-able parts, but they didn't use open crates like the Revell kit - har har. In fact, I have the various TMs for the HJ. The motor (or JATO as it was called), pedestal (conical transition section at front of JATO), and warhead section were each shipped in specially-designed metal shipping containers with forklift pockets, lift rings, dry nitrogen purging, and all that. The fins were in containers of some sort - flat metal or wood boxes IIRC - while the igniters, fuzes, and spin motors were in MS metal cans and/or ICC wooden boxes.
Flatbeds would be used for some loads, but regular van trailers are much more likely.
KL