After his primary education and at his father's insistence, Hinh moved to France in 1932 to advance his studies, attending the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.

With the outbreak of World War II and the invasion of France in 1940, he participated in operations against invading Germans in the northeastern part of the country and Italians in the Alps.

Following the establishment of a collaborationist regime under Philippe Pétain in Vichy, Hinh was transferred to West Africa, serving in French Sudan and Senegal.

In 1965, he was promoted to divisional general and assigned to the Central Directorate of Matériel of the Air Force, overseeing the introduction of new nuclear strike capabilities.

After the 1975 spring offensive and the dissolution of South Vietnam, he devoted the following years to helping his former VNA subordinates escape the country and find refuge in France.