[flexcoders] preload image data and assign to Image controls?

[dfalling]

I'm trying to preload images to use later with Image controls for a
slideshow.  I'm blindly trying variations of this with no success:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml";
layout="absolute" creationComplete="creationHandler()">
        <mx:Script>
                <![CDATA[
                        private var _imageAddress:String =
"http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/15760/beanie.jpg";;
                        
                        private function creationHandler():void
                        {
                                var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
                                var request:URLRequest = new 
URLRequest(_imageAddress);
                                loader.load(request);
                                loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, 
loadComplete);
                        }
                        
                        private function loadComplete(event:Event):void
                        {
                                var loader:URLLoader = URLLoader(event.target);
                                image.data = loader.data;
                        }
                ]]>
        </mx:Script>
        <mx:Image width="100%" height="100%" id="image"/>
</mx:Application>

Does anyone have any examples of this?  I've been searching the web
for hours and can't find any way of retrieving remote image data and
assigning it to image controls.

Thanks