Nicot graduated from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr and entered the French Air Force.
He was tasked with keeping Dien Bien Phu supplied by air when it was besieged by the Viet Minh.
Nicot was found to have been involved in delaying the transmission of certain orders at the time of the French counter-attack, as well as aiding in the secret transfer of Generals Maurice Challe and André Zeller to Algeria.
General Nicot was tried by the High Military Court and convicted on 19 June 1961, for collusion "with the leaders of an insurrectionist movement."
Nicot was released from prison in 1965, and later reinstated to the Air Force Reserves in November 1982, following the adoption of a bill by the French legislature "relating to the settlement of certain consequences of the events of North Africa", whose goal was to reinstate 800 officers, 800 policemen and 400 civil administrators expelled between 1961 and 1963 into public office, except for the eight putschist generals expelled from the reserves.