I may have to actually go to a library to get that TH Record for 1985. I don't mind doing that but it'll be a bit before I get there.
The formation of the planes was exactly what I saw and what I spoke to a state trooper about the next day. It took me a minute after being startled but I did recognize what I was looking at plus I could hear a very faint drone of what was obviously engines. Not a Brian Dunning fan but that article is spot on: we all knew what we were looking at and so did the air traffic controllers at two airports.
The shocking stories are the ones that have survived outside the area - you start talking about that here and you'll get funny looks outside the Pine bush UFO festival. I attribute them to the guaranteed 'add ons' that arrive as witnesses to car accidents, etc. If most other people saw the car run over a horse then they probably won't take the guy claiming it was a zebra too seriously. I liken it to clowns. Put on a scary clown outfit and hang around on a dark street corner long enough to be noticed and suddenly everyone's seeing evil clowns and posting about it online.
I am not a pilot but know that aircraft have lots of lights on them.
Airplane Lights: What Each Light Does (Red/Green, Strobe, Beacon) - Pilot Institute
It is absolutely possible to see something huge and slow moving with bright white lights on it that could even be boomerang shaped. We paid for them - they are C17s. You don't always see the red/green combo right away or hear it. I recall looking up once while on a dark lonely road and looked up to see what looked like an oil refinery. Pipes or some mechanical crap just hanging up there with soft lighting. I think it had it's landing gear down - they practice all sorts of approaches and SWF is only a couple of minutes away by air.
Pine Bush and the perpetuation of these reports reminds me of Gettysburg. I remember going there as a kid and much later as an adult and the topic naturally was the Civil War and the epic battle that was fought there. Now it's all about ghost hunting because of that one stupid TV program. Well OK, it's fun and brings in much needed tourism dollars but don't for a second start believing what the shop owners are telling you. They have a motive for keeping the stories going just like those recycling old UFO reports do.