Richard Bouchard, better known as ''the Colonel'' to thousands of WDBO-AM (580) fans, became the backup traffic pilot on WDBO-AM 580 in 1976. He was hired full-time three years later and continued until March, 1993 after back problems suffered in an automobile accident in 1990. Bouchard also said he wanted to take a 2 1/2 month vacation out West with his family and write a book about his days flying a U-2 spy plane for the Air Force. He was also a traffic reporter for WFTV channel 9 for nine years. ''It just got to where I thought I had been doing it long enough,'' said Bouchard, a native Texan who retired from the Air Force in '73. Bouchard died Friday December 26, 2003. He was 72.  Colonel Bouchard was called "one of the pioneers as an air-traffic reporter in the Central Florida area," by Ben Aycrigg, former WDBO-AM 580 personality and  news anchor of WDBO TV 6 (now WKMG). Richard and his wife met through the radio station when she won breakfast in a contest. He offered to let her fly with him, and she went. It was on a Valentine's Day. In Memory