although the short landing gear and limited prop clearance led to tricky landing, the plane was otherwise easy to fly. it had a very short take-off run and at heights above was faster and more manoeuvrable than the mercedes-powered fokker d.vii. its most notable feature was its phenomenal rate of climb and extremely high service ceiling—it could reach in under 14½ minutes. in 36 minutes it could reach , about higher than the ceiling of the fokker. production of the d.iv continued after the cease-fire, while one example escaped to switzerland where it operated from 1918 to 1922, and another was acquired by the lithuanians, however it never flew in their service. one examples was used by the belgians, being marked with the race number 22. with the signing of the treaty of versailles aircraft production in germany was outlawed and the aircraft division of ssw disappeared. siemens-halske later reorganized into bramo.