The first Chipmunk made its first flight in May 1946 from Toronto after De Havilland Canada provided a superior design to the previous British designed Tiger Moth to upgrade trainers after the war was over. Almost immediately, the Chipmunk gained interest from the military initially produced in Canada, and then under license, majority of production took place at the company's facilities at Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, England. They would go on to provide basic flight training support for many thousands of future military pilots in several diiferent countries' Air Forces, even remaining in service for the RAF until its retirement in 1996. Proving its sustained success, the Chipmunk has seen over 70 years of flight while many are operational today and can be seen being flown by private owners continuing to have excellent maneuverability and showing off its capable design.