The Antoinette IV was a high-wing aircraft with a fuselage of extremely narrow triangular cross-section and a cruciform tail.

Power was provided by a V8 engine of Léon Levavasseur's own design driving a paddle-bladed tractor propeller.

Lateral control was at first effected with large triangular, and shortly afterwards trapezoidal-planform ailerons hinged to the trailing edge of the wings, although wing-warping was substituted at an early stage in flight trials, and in this type proved more effective.

On 19 February 1909, the Antoinette IV flew 5 km (3.1 mi) at Mourmelon-le-Grand, and on 19 July, Hubert Latham attempted to cross the English Channel in it, covering 11 km (6.8 mi) out of Sangatte before making a forced water landing due to engine failure.

[1][2][3][4] On 3 October 1910, Frenchman René Thomas, flying the Antoinette IV, collided with British Army Captain Bertram Dickson by ramming his Farman III biplane in the rear.