Best tow plane ( well helicopter) was a Hughes 500 D at the Warbirds airshow in NZ and the opening of the world gliding champs.
Take-off roll was about 60m and it went up at 1600ft per min.
The trick at the top was slowing the helicopter down till the glider stalled and hung on the belly hook.
Need to get the videos of this uploaded sometime. Make for great viewing