Seventy-five years ago, at the height of World War II, Japanese bomber pilots mistook a remote Aboriginal community in Western Australia for a military base.

Four children, a woman, and a priest were killed in the ensuing attack on Kalumburu, in the state's north.

In what has been described as a "strange twist", an organ donated to the local Catholic church by the Nazis was also destroyed when the raiders strafed the building with their machine guns.

Some 36 aircraft are estimated to have been in the wing that flew over Kalumburu on that day in 1943.

Tourists inspect the wreck of a WWII-era plane that crashed near Kalumburu, in WA's far north. ( Supplied: Scott Gilchrist )

Terror struck small community

The raid occurred on Kwini and Kulari country, where the Catholic Mission was built in the 1900s after Benedictine monks moved to the area.

Many Aboriginal people were living traditionally on their land during World War Two, including Vanessa Adams' grandmother, Dolores Ceinmora, who was a young girl at the time.

Ms Adams said her grandmother was in a cave when she saw planes flying over, but had no idea what they were.

"She was very frightened," Ms Adams told ABC Open.

"She thought it was a big noisy bird."

Vanessa Adams painted her grandmother's experience of the Japanese raid during WWII. ( Supplied:ABC Open )

Dolores Ceinmora was so scared she never told anyone what she saw.

It was not until much later in life when she made the connection between that day and the deaths from the Japanese bombings.

"When she was getting older she sat down by the fire and told us," Ms Adams said.

Ms Adams painted a picture of her grandmother's story to record the history.

Church recalls tragic losses

A newspaper article reporting the death of Father Thomas Gill. ( Trove: National Library of Australia )

Father Anscar McPhee lived in Kalumburu for almost 30 years from 1984.

He established the Kalumburu Mission Museum and collected stories from the raid.

He said the death of four Aboriginal children was especially tragic because there were so few children in the community, which had a low birth rate.

"After the bombing I was told you could hearing wailing across the community, mourning the tragic loss," Fr McPhee said.

One of the deaths was Father Thomas Gill, who had tried to protect the woman and the four children in a dugout during the raid.

However, a bomb landed directly where they were hiding.

Father Thomas' death was widely reported, but the names and deaths of the Aboriginal women and children were not as widely reported in the media.

"It was tremendous sadness and sorrow on all sides," Fr McPhee said.

The Japanese initially denied carrying out the attack, but it is now understood they mistook the mission for an established military base.

Nazi link a 'strange twist'

Kalumburu was once the site of violence and devastation during World War II. ( Emily Jane Smith )

Bishop Christopher Saunders, the Catholic Bishop of Broome and the Kimberley, said the story has been remembered in the community, but that trauma may have prevented many from sharing their experiences.

"It was a time of sorrow," Bishop Saunders said.

But a few anecdotes survived, including that bullets pierced and destroyed an organ that had been donated by Adolf Hitler and his government.

How that came to be is as surreal as the bombing was tragic.

In 1932, German aviators Hans Bertram and Adolf Klausmann embarked on a round-the-world flight, but were forced to land in the Kimberley, lost and running low on fuel.

The Nazi government donated a musical instrument to a remote Aboriginal community. ( Reuters: file )

The men then endured a 39-day ordeal, using their plane as a life-raft, sailing from the north Kimberley coast to Kalumburu where they were found languishing in a cave and rescued.

"The organ was a gift from the Third Reich," Bishop Saunders said.

"So there is a strange twist in all of this."

The organ is no longer at the mission, but Bishop Saunders said he once saw it, along with a letter thanking the missionaries and the local Aboriginal people.