i used to work next to a spar milling shop,
in the days before widespread CNC use.
They just hired guys who could turn the cranks on a regular milling machine,
paid them modestly,
and fired them if they took a cut less than 1/2" deep.
The place was literally hip deep in chips at the end of the day.
The material was clearly aluminum.
Note that there are many aluminum alloys and tempers, some of which reach yield points higher than mild steel.
Stainless steel is very weak (low yield point) relative to its weight, so it's not a good material choice for large aircraft parts. Some tempers of 2024 aluminum have a higher yield point and are hundreds of times easier to machine than any stainless. That's why spar milling with >95 pct material removal was competitive (to spars folded and riveted from sheet anything) even before CNC.
I think the Russians have built complete combat airplanes (or at least complete skins) out of steel, but it wasn't stainless; regular maintenance must have included polishing and waxing; when they were parked outdoors and not maintained for a while, they rusted. That came as a surprise to our intelligence people; we had assumed the planes had titanium skins because the USSR mined its own rutile, and had a native titanium supply large enough to use for making submarines.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA