Preloading Batch of External Images

Hi. I’m relatively new to Flash/AS3 and have no idea how I’d preload a set of photos (about 20) all at once as my photography website is downloaded, or as I link from my home page to my Gallery page. I’d like them to be preloaded so that mousing over thumbnails instantly loads the main image into the loader.

I know how to load external photos via a simple URLRequest, and how to build a preloader that responds to each image individually. But how to batch preload…beyond my understanding. If possible, I’d like to do it without XML since that steepens the learning curve.

Thanks a lot!