He served as deputy commander of the PLA Air Force from 1985 to 1994 and attained the rank of lieutenant general in 1988.

When Lin Hu was just a few years old, his father froze to death in a winter night after falling asleep on a coal train.

[2][3] At the Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, Lin piloted a P-51 Mustang fighter and flew across the sky over the Tiananmen in Beijing.

[2][3][4] During the Korean War, Lin was a deputy regiment commander of the People's Volunteer Army Air Force.

He was credited with shooting down one and damaging another F-86 Sabre, the best jet fighter of the United States Air Force.

[6][7] In January 2002, Lin published the book Fight to Protect the Motherland's Airspace—A Retrospective of the Air Battles in the First Twenty Years of New China (保卫祖国领空的战斗—新中国二十年国土防空作战回顾),[2][3] describing the PLAAF's defense operations between 1949 and 1969.

[2][3] He died on the same day as his friend and colleague, fellow Korean War veteran and PLAAF lieutenant general Yao Xian.