Orange hovering object chased by Air Force jets

On this hot summer night I went out on the porch to sit in the swing.  As I was swinging I thought I noticed a falling star and stopped the swing.  The firey ball stopped dead in the sky.  
I got up to look at it... mesmerized. Then it began making wide horizontal swaths in the sky.  At first it moved very slowly and methodically it seemed. And then it would just hover.  
Soon I noticed two fighting jets come from the direction of Jackson Air Force base toward the object. The object then rapidly flew away in a steep angle and disappeared.  
I didn't report it then because of the derision heaped upon people at that time.
The irony is that I was visiting Little Rock from Chicago where I worked at Northwestern University in the English Dept. and as a side job I would type papers for Astronomy professors.  Dr. Hynek (Sp.) was very much thought of as a wild canon at the time so I never told anyone of my experience.
I have a MS degree.  I am retired now.
Witness indicates that date of incident is approximate.  PD