Easily the most maneuverable plane of the War, aside from Italy's beautiful Macchi Folgore (the only fighter which could turn inside a Spitfire, btw).  The Folgore, however, lacked armor protection, so I'd have to agree with the Spitfire.

The P-47 Thunderbolt was a great fighter--unbeatable in a dive--and it's solid construction and heavy armor made it extremely difficult to shoot down.  When Robert S. Johnson's P-47 was shot up with 20mm shells and MG bullets from a nameless Focke Wulf, the German pilot (who was amazed that the American plane was still flying) pulled up alongside Johnson (close enough that Johnson could see that his eyes were brown), saluted him, and let him go!

The Mitsubishi Zero-Sen was great in dogfights, but the large amount of magnesium in its construction made it prone to burning.

P-51 mustangs

best in my book

I'd also vote the Mustang, with a respectful nod to the Corsair.  

Spitfire?  cmon....

Since speed is the deciding factor in most dogfights, I would vote the Me 262 as the best dogfighter, based both on speed and the weight of lead tossed out the front end, the canons delivering far more damage than the American .50's.

One thing people tend to forget is that great manueverability is accomplished at the sacrifice of speed.  Sure the Zero could out-turn Allied fighters like the P-38, but why did the P-38 have a 10-1 kill ratio against the Zero?  Mainly because it was faster (certainly the ruggedness of the aircraft helped too.)

The Me262 had 4 * gun 30mm vs the P80 which had 6 mg with 12.7 mm caliber. In a fight, it would have been very tough for the P80, even with its superior speed.

Also, I don't consider the P80 to be a "true" WW2 plane. The Shooting Star was possibly the best Allied jet fighter to emerge from World War II (called the P-80 until after WWII), however, like the other Allied jets it was too late to be used in combat. Several were flown around Italy late in the war, but they never saw the enemy. Seeing as how it never actually was involved in a dog fight, I don't think it should be included in this discussion.

It was in the theater before the war ended...

Anyways the Me-262 was not known for its ruggedness in fact for a jet fighter it was surprisingly fragile.  The Me-262's cannon's would not level the playing field. 

The Spitfire mk9 was intended to be a short term solution to the FW190 but in fact turned out to be a truley fantastic fighter and wins this discussion hands down.

Jet powered aircraft do not qualify as we are talking dogfighting in WW2 and insufficient evidence is available (actual combat evidence I mean) to justify inclusion.

The P51 Mustang was without doubt the best overall fighter of WWII,  but this thread is about dogfighting and dogfighting alone, and so just accept it folks, "THE SPITFIRE RULES SUPREME".

Best dogfighting plane - which means best turning ability - goes without doubt to the Spitfire IXC and XIVE. The FW 190 D series or Ta 152 were still inferior to those but were packing a real punch. Yet the best fighter in terms of dogfighting ability was the Soviet Yak 7 (or maybe Yak 3, I'm not sure). While this plane had no tremendous firepower, what it had was enough for matching it's Luftwaffe counterparts.

The Me 262, P-47, Meteor, even Tempest were not dogfighting planes. They were more like "dash, slash and kill" fighters.

As for the P-51, it was the best fighter in WWII just as T-34 was the best tank. The latest series of German fighters were superior. But what can you do with a fiew brilliant fighters against an overwhelming number of very reliable fighters (not to mention the very tough bombers)? This also goes for the Hellcat and the Corsair.

I agree with Cezar.

Below 6000 metres the Yak-3s speed and manueverablilty gave it superior performance over any German piston fighter. German fighter pilots on the Eastern Front were ordered to avoid it in combat.

In terms of pure dogfighting I'd have to go with the A6M zero when in the hands of a skilled pilot.  In spite of its liabilities this little honey wasn't something you'd want to face in a close up knife fight.

As for the P-51, although an excellent fighter and though it was aneffective dogfighter but it did have some troubling faults.  For one thing its lack of wing space resulted in occasional jamming in high g turns due to the cramped configuration of its machine guns.  The advantage of the Mustang lay, asides from its range, in its speed and high speed handling.  Above 300 mph the Mustangs leading edge wings allowed for a near unparalleled level of agility and manueverability(only the Corsair could match its handling at these speeds with the exception of jets), at these speeds it'd make the likes of a Spitfire seem like a flying brick.  Of course dogfights ussually occur at very slow speeds.

P-51 Mustang or the Focke-Wulfe FW 190

Here's a classification in my opinion:

• High altitude dogfighters (6000+ meters)

1. Spitfire (except Mk V)
2. Fw 190 D series, Ta 152H, Tempest, P-51, P-38
3. Me 109K, Hellcat, Corsair, Mig 3

• Medium-low alt. dogfighters (<6000 meters)

1. Yak3, La-5, Zero, Spitfire, Me 109, Fw 190A4-A6
2. P-51, P-38, Hellcat, Oscar, Tempest
3. P-39, P-40, IAR 80-81, Re 2000, Macchi 202, D520

• Interceptors (Fly, shoot, kill and off you go!)

1. Me 262 a&b, Meteor
2. Tempest
3. P-51

• Escorts (Dare to mess with my bombers?)

1. P-51
2. P-47, P-38
3. Hellcat, Corsair

• Sweepers (Let's see if we can wake them up!)

1. P-51
2. P-47, P-38
3. Hellcat, Corsair, Tempest

• Butchers (I shoot, I hit, I score!)

1. Me 262, P-47, FW 190 A6-A8
2. P-38, Fw 190 D9, Ta 152
3. Mosquito

• Night fighters (I'd rather be sailing!)

1. Ju 88 (Schrage Musik was deadly)
2. Mosquito, Beaufighter
3. Me 110G

•  Attack fighters (I'm NOT Flak Happy!)

1. P-47, Typhoon, Fw 190G
2. P-38, P-39Q, Hellcat, Corsair, Beaufighter
3. P-51, Me 110C, Spitfire V

Toughest fighter: P-47

Weakest fighter: Zero

Best weapons: 20 mm Shvak cannon

Most feared: Allies: Fw 190, Axis: Spitfire and P-51

Best of all: P-51