You don't need to be a history buff to find Darwin's history pretty astounding. The first and only Australian city to see direct wartime action, the legacy of a fateful 1942 day (and the years that followed) when the same Japanese fighters that attacked Pearl Harbor turned their attention to Australia still hangs over the city – travel to Darwin and you'll see references to it everywhere.

More than 200 Japanese fighter planes attacked the Allied naval base at Stokes Hill Wharf and then the thoroughly unprepared town itself; the battle was largely one-sided, and the destruction was complete. Almost 75 years later, bombing truck tours, bus tours, boat tours, walking tours, even podcast tours frequent the city, but Darwin's newest attraction is a world-first lesson in how to do history – even when it hurts.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) tourist spot on Stokes Hill Wharf is making the most of its ground-zero position, with the help of some surprisingly cool and cutting-edge technology, to recreate the first Bombing of Darwin countless times a day through ghost holograms and a beautifully produced virtual reality (VR) experience.

The tricky thing about war history is that it tends to play to an older crowd, but the RFDS have hooked a whole new generation with gamer-level graphics and truly immersive VR. Like most VR experiences, it doesn't look like much from the outset – a bank of 10 red swivel chairs with techie-looking helmets and not a lot of instruction.

But put that helmet on, and you're transported to 1942, swooping over a 3-D map of the Darwin waterfront before beginning your adventure below deck in an old, rundown diving boat. Just like in the start of a game, you have time to get your bearings and swivel on your real-world chair to look around you, even behind you, to take in the detail – a half-eaten apple, an old pair of boots swinging from the underdeck.

The "attack" begins – and your chair vibrates with each direct hit — as you emerge into the sunshine. You are at Stokes Hill Wharf, dwarfed by the great white cargo ship MV Neptuna on one side and – turn around – the hulking black Barossa on the other. Men are everywhere, frozen in horror.

You rise above the decks of the Neptuna as she gets pummelled, then suddenly you're sitting on the wing of an American fighter plane, engaging in a life-or-death dogfight with the Japanese bombing squadron. You may find yourself swivelling wildly to get your bearings through the smoke as "up" becomes "down".

Things get even more desperate as you're transferred to the water, in the position of so many people that day, among the slicks of burning oil as Neptuna succumbs to her wounds and spectacularly explodes.

The virtual reality experience only opened at the end of July, but tears have sure already been shed inside those VR goggles. For all the locals trying to engage travellers with a thousand well-worn tales and stories, this really is the experience that takes you there.

The experience offers much more, too. Ghost holograms – the same type that are now being used in place of real staff in airports from LAX to Paris, and even in the London Tube – stand blinking, waiting for questions. The pilot Hajime Toyoshima, often referred to by his first name only around these parts, stands in his flight gear as he recalls how he became Australia's first prisoner of war.

In the theatrette, a hologram of American commander Etheridge Grant narrates his own version of events. Outside, an air raid siren signals the start of the virtual attack in the main hall. Stand on the platform around the main screen and you'll see the attack from above; look forward and you'll experience it by looking 'out' the virtual window, which matches exactly the view from the real window next to it – spooky. Look up and see a life-size replica of one of the Zero bombers that devastated both Pearl Harbor and Darwin after it.

There are also Flying Doctor exhibits, like a climb-aboard aircraft. The gift shop is even worth a visit, partnered with R.M. Williams and sporting some quality gear.

Pair a visit here with a walk-through of the wartime Oil Tunnels nearby (cool in its own way with a walk under the city – talk about interactive!) and you'll have learned a lot, felt a lot, and come to understand why this bit of history is so important to Darwinians living in the city today.