group of objects

This happened a long time ago but I wanted to get it reported just 'because'.
I was in the desert wilderness of Saline Valley, just west of Death Valley. Daytime, sunny, high billowy clouds. It was a beautiful day. I was looking out with binoculars as we were nearer the rim than the lower parts of the valley so visibility was very far.  It is not unusual to see military jets in this place, even flying very low to the ground and in pairs doing dogfights.  Saline Valley is not that far north of China Lake Naval Weapons Test Center.  This time there were a handful of jets flying just at the top of the clouds, which were about 20,000-23,000 feet.  What made them stand out was the sun's reflection off their surface that looked like polished aluminum, very shiny.  It looked like they were doing dogfights, running in tight circles chasing each other while others were on the perimeter.  I stood still for quite a while watching through 7x35 binoculars nearly straight overhead as it was a really good display.  What really grabbed me was the tight circles they were fly! ing and the short distances they went before coming about and chasing the others.  I watched for a very long time before it occurred to me that these "jets" had no wings. (there was also no visible propulsion exhaust).
The really fascinating part of all this is how my brain categorized what I was seeing. For quite a while it didn't occur to me "ufo". My head was saying "fighter jets". But the conflict was how they were flying. They seemed to be maneuvering like they were on the end of a string being waved around and that's why the circles they were flying were so tight and sharp. No jets in this world can pull the tight turns that I was seeing. The physics just don't support jets doing those kinds of turns. And they weren't going fast like jets would streak through the sky. They were dancing, playing with each other almost like fish would do in water, darting back and forth. They were staying in one little area of the sky. My brain was just this side of "what the hell....". There were little chunks of logic missing in my observation. The thought "how can they be doing that without wings" stayed just outside my consciousness thoughts. I've seen fighters and they just can't fly like that and they certainly can't fly like that with no wings.
There was no internet back then in the 80s. It wasn't until I saw quite a few videos on youtube that it dawned on me these were the same type of shiny roundish vehicles doing seemingly impossible maneuvers. I was USAF 40 yrs ago and I lived very near AF Plant 42 and Edwards so I've seen a lot of aircraft.  What I saw that day were not aircraft.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD