Lorraine Kelly rides a tank and hangs out of helicopter

Thumbs up: Lorraine Kelly carries out a childhood dream to to be a pilot in the RAF

The Scots presenter also revealed that her childhood ambition was to be a pilot in the RAF, as she boarded a Sea King helicopter to promote Armed Forces Day.

Several events will be held across the country to pay tribute to serving personnel and veterans.

Kelly set off from RAF Leuchars in Fife this morning, flying by Royal Navy helicopter to Scotstoun shipyard in Glasgow where she was winched from the aircraft.

Hang on: Lorraine jumps out of a helicopter

She met sailors on the flight deck of a Navy Type 45 Destroyer, HMS Diamond, and was then lowered on to a rigid inflatable boat on the River Clyde, docking at Glasgow's Pacific Quay to complete her journey on the top of a tank.

She said: "I think Armed Forces Day is a really important chance for all of us to say thank you to the services, and I think people really want to do that.

"I've had the most amazing day. It's been brilliant.

"It's been a wonderful, wonderful day and really good fun but there is obviously a serious message and that is that we really do need to show our appreciation and I think this day gives us a chance to do that. It's really, really important.

"When I was a kid I really wanted to be a pilot in the RAF but that was in the 1960s and women just weren't allowed. Now it's completely different and that's great.

"But this for me has just been a dream come true. Jumping in and out of helicopters, getting whisked all over the place has been fantastic.

"I wasn't frightened at all because when you're in the hands of real professionals who are so good at their jobs. All you have to do is enjoy what's happening."

Kelly was met at Pacific Quay by serving personnel and veterans, including some who recently returned from the front line in Afghanistan.

Senior Aircraftman David Walsh, from 58 Squadron of the First Regiment based in RAF Leuchars, returned from the Kandahar airbase in February.

His work involved protecting the airfield, conducting patrols and countering the threat of improvised explosive devices.

He said: "It's very different to waking up back at my mum's house but once you settle into a pattern of life out there, you settle into your routine - you learn what to expect.

Armed Forces Day is important because it recognises the work of troops serving on the front line, he added.

"A lot of people don't understand the full extent of what we actually do out there. Most of the publicity is to do with the injuries and the death toll, which just keeps rising, but there are a lot of good things the lads are doing out there at the minute.

"It took a couple of weeks but once you settle in it's pleasing to see that not everyone out there is against you, and people actually do want to work with you to get the country back up to normal."

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was also at the launch.

She said: "It's a really important opportunity to pay tribute to our Armed Forces who have done and continue to do such a fantastic job on our behalf.

"Armed Forces Day is all about saying thank you to those who have served in the past, to those who will serve in the future, but perhaps most particularly to those who are serving right now because those who are on the front line in Afghanistan are very much in our thoughts.

"It's a big opportunity for Scotland, which has a very proud tradition of military service, to say thank you for all you do."