Montblack wrote:

Any photos out there of a glider winch launcher? Is it a vehicle launching
thingy or a Wright Brothers kind of contraption?

There are many different kind of winches, from low-end homebuilt diesel
winches to commercial high-tech electro winches. The most complete
overview I know is
http://www.skylaunch.de/album/index.html

And then there's the ever funny movie
http://www.motorflug.de/movies/glider.mpg
which shows a winch in action. (Caution: 11 MB, but worth every bit.)

Stefan