Wedge over Southern Arizona in 1981 blacks out sky

In May of 1981 a friend of mine and I witnessed a wedge shaped object comparable in size and shape as the "Phoenix Lights" Mar. 1997 incident, only this was a full 16 years before hand.
My friend and I were walking west to another friend's house and the walk went along the 'bypass' which is  AZ Highway 90 that skirts the East Range of Ft. Huachuca. We're walking along and since the skies here in AZ are so dark the stars are like a blanket at times--when this huge wedge with lights (7) along the front edge and behind it you could not see the stars in a definite wedge shape blackout. It slowly and silently passed and I looked a him and he looked at me and we both were like "Did you see what I saw?" We confirmed it. The thing was huge, it was I'd say at least 1000 feet to each wing of the wedge, if not more. it was about a half mile away about two o'clock over the East Range of Ft. Huachuca and proceeded from the Southeast towards Green Valley/Tucson/Casa Grande to the northwest.
We watched it for two or three minutes and went and told our other friend and pretty much never told anybody else.
I am a land surveyor and consider myself a good judge of distance also I was an Army brat and have seen flares all my life, flares don't move in unison.  I alway put this down to a B-2 stealth bomber sighting, until I saw one and found out how small they are.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD